Now That You've Returned
by NessieGG
Summary: Megumi's ex-stalker Kanriyu had a son. Now that Derekai Takeda has killed Hitokiri Battousai, what else does he need? Ah yes, his wife, Kaoru. But is Kenshin really dead? And will Kaoru still love him? (Complete)
1. Prologue Derekai, Goodbye Kenshin

Gundam Girl: Wow, I've actually started a Rourouni Kenshin fic. Animechick is gonna kill me for this. . .  
  
Animechick: No! How could you? You're supposed to be writing Sea Of Emotion, you jerk!  
  
GG: Eh heh. I think I'll just get this done with. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this story compared to the original Japanese series, as I have only seen the first 28 episodes and the few that I've downloaded. Forgive me, those of you who may wish to destroy me, I'm doing the best I can. *prays* This will take place right after Kenshin beats that Shishio guy or whatever. . .  
  
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki. I do not claim to own them.  
  
*~Now That You've Returned~* Prologue  
  
"Hurry! Oh, God, what if he's-"  
  
"Don't start now, Yahiko! The important thing is to get there before that happens!"  
  
Sanosuke Sagara's feet pounded the dirt. His breath heaved out while in one sweating hand he clutched a dagger, glinting in the sunlight, while in the other he held the hand of Kaoru Kamiya. Yahiko Miyojin was at his side shouting curses and "what if's." For once, Kaoru was completely silent as she sprinted behind him, the ribbon tying her kimono together flying out behind her waist below the wafting silk of black hair.  
  
For a moment, Sanosuke's brown eyes turned back to glance at her. The missie was hardly ever quiet, much less noiseless. What was going on in her mind? More to the point, what was going on ahead of them?  
  
All three runners halted when an explosion sent smoke pouring from the grove of trees in front of them.  
  
"What the hell?" asked Sanosuke.  
  
"I smell gunpowder," Yahiko said in turn. "If this was on purpose, then. . ."  
  
"Kenshin!" Sano winced as the young assistant master to the Kamiya dojo tore herself away from him and carried on ahead. "Oh, God, Kenshin!"  
  
"Wait! Kaoru! Dammit, I said wait!" Sanosuke took of after her, Yahiko at his heels. Just when he was wondering how the hell she could move in that kimono, Kaoru stopped in her tracks before a pile of rocks.  
  
"It's too smoky!" Yahiko insisted, further back with Sanosuke. "Hey, come back, Kaoru. There's no breathing here!"  
  
"Kenshin!" she exclaimed, beginning to claw frantically at the rocks. "They fell," she said, raising her eyes to the cliff above for a moment. "It was no accident, someone made them fall. Kenshin!!"  
  
"I don't give a damn about smoke." Sano rushed beside Kaoru and tried to reassure her. "Kenshin's not in there, there's no way. His god-like speed would spare him, don't be so untrusting!"  
  
"That's very optimistic, Mr. Sagara."  
  
"The fuck?" Looking up, a young blond boy in a trim tailored suit stood on the edge of the cliff. "Get down from there, kid, you'll get yourself hurt."  
  
The boy frowned for an instant before smirking smugly again. "I am certainly no boy - not when I am the one who has rid the world of the Battousai!"  
  
"Don't be ridiculous!" Yahiko shouted, spitting. "You moron, Kenshin isn't in there."  
  
"No?" He grinned. "Unlike my father, I exceed in planning. But I am not weak; I do not need a ruthless group like Aoshi's sloppy mob. I can fend completely for myself."  
  
"Yeah? And who the hell are you?"  
  
"And what have you done with Kenshin?" demanded Kaoru, adding to Sanosuke's notorious cursing.  
  
The boy grinned then, and Kaoru's brows lowered. "My name is Derekai Kanriyu."  
  
"Kanriyu?!" echoed Yahiko in disbelief. "You're Kanriyu's son?" He paused, wooden sword in hand. "Boy, it must suck to be you." He grinned as the one who must have been three years his senior scowled.  
  
"Do not voice something I already know," he replied snobbishly. "In answer to your question, Miss Kamiya, I have taken the liberty of burying Mr. Himura myself - in two thousand pounds of rock."  
  
Kaoru recoiled.  
  
"You're lying!" Yahiko lifted the wooden sword until its flat tip was aimed at Derekai. "That's what I've decided. Kanriyu couldn't have ever had a son. Who'd want to marry him anyway?"  
  
A muscle in Derekai's jaw twitched. "It does not take rings to conceive a son, Yahiko Miyojin. Nor to rape the woman who would bear him."  
  
"You bastard!" Yahiko didn't even give a thought to how true the title rang.  
  
Sano set a hand on the young swordsman-in-training's shoulder. "It's cruel, but he isn't lying."  
  
Yahiko growled lowly.  
  
"Hey, you! Kanriyu Jr.!"  
  
Derekai's eye twitched.  
  
Sanosuke, seeing his had annoyed him, smirked. "It isn't possible that Kenshin was killed by your play avalanche there. His speed is incredible. Surely, you'd know that much about him if you want him dead."  
  
"My father killed himself in prison. He swore every day to kill the Battousai. When he committed suicide, I knew it would be my duty to grant his last wish." As Derekai said this, he watched Kaoru, slowly, frantically removing the smaller rocks by herself. "He isn't there," he called to her from above. "Not alive, anyway. See for yourself. Go to the other side."  
  
Warily but panicked, she walked around the pile.  
  
And saw an oozing trail of blood coming from the inside, along with a piece of a magenta robe.  
  
Tears filled, then fell from her eyes as Kaoru grabbed the cloth and pressed it to her cheek. As she sobbed, Sanosuke glared.  
  
"He's really dead," Yahiko murmured. As he started to cry with Kaoru, he waved his stick at Derekai. "I'll kill you myself!" Tucking the sword in his belt, he started to climb the cliff.  
  
"Don't assume I'm so easily defeated," replied Derekai and produced two hand bombs from a pouch at his waist. "Climb any further, and I'll blast you and your friends to a whole separate dimension."  
  
"Yahiko," Sanosuke said slowly, "come down."  
  
"I'm not afraid of some child's toys," Yahiko assured him haughtily. "Watch me kill him! For Kenshin!!"  
  
As the young samurai relinquished his wooden sword, Derekai lifted a match and held it toward the bomb's wick.  
  
"STOP IT!"  
  
The son of Kanriyu paused.  
  
"Can't you see you've done enough to us?!" Kaoru demanded. "You've killed Battousai the manslayer -- or what used to be Battousai the manslayer." She paused, twin tears slipping from her eyes. "Isn't that enough? Will you kill a boy younger than you as well?"  
  
"We'll go to the police!" Sanosuke threatened. "Yahiko, get down here!"  
  
Not willing to argue with Sanosuke or those bombs, Yahiko lowered a foot. Before he could touch it to a lower section of rock, Kanriyu the younger grabbed Yahiko's robe and hauled him to the cliff's edge, holding a knife to his neck, the bombs discarded.  
  
"No!" Kaoru exclaimed as Sanosuke shouted a curse.  
  
"I'll make a deal with you." Derekai held the knife closer to Yahiko's throat. "You," he said to Kaoru, "will take the place of Megumi Takani-"  
  
"If you touch her. . ." Sanosuke began.  
  
"-and you will be the one to marry me."  
  
There was silence. But not for long.  
  
"What the? Are you insane?" Yahiko began, squirming in the grasp of the strong-gripped Derekai. "Why would Kaoru do that? I'm a scrawny little brat." With a blade to his lungs, he thought in disgust.  
  
"Yeah, she loves Kenshin, she'll never marry you!" added Sano. "You're just a psycho kid; she can't love you!"  
  
"But it seems I have the upper hand. Will you, Miss Kamiya?" he asked, his eyes turning hopefully to hers. "I will be a very good husband. And for the time being, a very merciful opposition. With your Himura gone, there doesn't seem to be any obstacles."  
  
"The dojo," she managed.  
  
"The dojo will continue to be under your care. We'll only be a few blocks away from it, and of course, your friends will still be permitted to live there. That is," he said, pressing the blade into Yahiko's flesh so that a trickle of blood flooded down his neck to soak in his robe. "If they manage to survive." Yahiko began to turn pale.  
  
"Stop it!" Kaoru yelled.  
  
"Don't do it. . .Kaoru," muttered Yahiko. "You love Kenshin. . ."  
  
With a pounding heart, Kaoru fell to her knees, set a hand on the rock pile. "Kenshin," she murmured, red eyes shutting.  
  
"He is losing blood," Derekai prompted.  
  
"I'm sorry. . ." Her face shot up, tears subsided. "Stop this! I'll marry you. Give me a ring, just let him go!"  
  
"All right." Releasing him, Derekai nodded as Sanosuke sprang forth and caught Yahiko. "Impressive. Both you and Mr. Sagara have managed to settle this little matter with no death. That I will applaud."  
  
"You sick bastard," Sanosuke said, Yahiko passed out over his shoulder. "Let's go, Kaoru. Run!"  
  
"Take another step and I'll shoot her."  
  
Mortified, Sano turned. "You'll what?"  
  
Derekai's pistol glinted in the afternoon sunlight wafting through the diminishing smoke. "Try to escape, and I will kill Miss Kamiya. We had a deal after all."  
  
"He's right, Sanosuke."  
  
"What?!" asked Sano. "You're actually going through with this?"  
  
"As the assistant master of the Kamiya school, I will not go back on my word." Ice carried the words from her mouth.  
  
"Pride. I admire that, Miss Kaoru."  
  
"Don't you understand what you've done?!" Sano shouted. "You'll break her this way! She'll be nothing but a shell if you don't let her go! She can't even mourn the man she's lost if she marries you right away!"  
  
"There will be no need." Derekai leapt from the cliff to land on his feet directly in front of Kaoru. He lifted a hand to caress the back of hers. "I will ease her pain."  
  
"Cut it out!" Sanosuke yelled. "You idiot, you-!"  
  
Even when Derekai leaned forward and kissed Kaoru's lips, she didn't react.  
  
Sano froze. "Missie. . ."  
  
"I made a promise, Sanosuke," was all she said.  
  
Pleased, Derekai smiled. "Excellent. Now come. I will show you where you will be living, Miss Kamiya." The young man paused. "Or should I say, Mrs. Kanriyu?"  
  
Kaoru shut her eyes and began to follow him. "Take Yahiko to Miss Megumi," she instructed Sano. "I will return to the dojo later."  
  
Sano fell to his knees. "Kaoru. . ." Whirling around, he glared at the pile of rocks. "You moron! Can't you see what's happened now that you're dead?! Kenshin, she'll be gone from you forever! Just like you're gone from us. . ." He lifted a shaking fist and punched the nearest tree. "Damn you, Kenshin! DAMN YOU!!"  
  
Kaoru halted at the damnation.  
  
"Is something wrong, dear?" asked Derekai, too happy to be annoyed.  
  
"I was just wishing my respects to Kenshin Himura," she told him. "That was all it was."  
  
And all it ever would be.  
  
*************************  
  
Gundam Girl: *smiles uncomfortably* If I'm not stoned for this, it'll be a fun fic to write. I hope you liked it. Please review and let me know if I've paid the excellent Rurouni Kenshin justice! 


	2. Six years later

Gundam Girl: Well, we have progressed to chapter one.  
  
RK freaks: ABOUT TIME!  
  
GG: Yipe! In all fairness, my Gundam Wing readers should be quiet pleased with me. *cough* KT and Animechick *cough* Just so everybody knows, there will be a lemon in this eventually. *Kirsten Elizabeth shouts for joy* But it won't have to be a part of the main storyline (as in, I'll post a separate link on my bio when it comes to that), so you guys can read it separately and so I can keep it on FFN.  
  
Disclaimer: I'm Nobuhiro Watsuke in disguise! . . .Not.  
  
Notes: This chapter - and the rest of the fic for that matter - will take place six years after the prologue, when that jerk Derekai Kanriyu killed Kenshin.  
  
*~Now That You've Returned~* Chapter One  
  
On a sunny spring afternoon in Tokyo, Japan, the waiting room of the clinic was full or both children and adults with various injuries or illness symptoms. Dr. Megumi Tanaki found helping her patients a delightful way to spend her life. With a smile on her face, she slid back the door to her operating room to let the now-stitched up factory worker out and let the next customer in - and came face to face with a tall, brown-eyed man that made her heart thunder and was grinning sheepishly at her with a bleeding lip.  
  
"Been waiting here a half-hour, fox lady. But damn, if that man doesn't feel like hell." Sanosuke winced as the injured man walking by him clutched his repaired and bandaged right arm. "Ouch."  
  
"Just get in here." Megumi quickly pulled him in and slid the door shut. "You're holding up the line."  
  
With a smile reserved for only her, Sanosuke tucked a few wayward strands of silken raven hair behind her ear. "I'd love it if I could hold you up." He leaned in to kiss her and hissed a curse when the slit in his busted lip widened.  
  
"Serves you right," Megumi told him. "You got blood on my cheek." As she wiped it away, she reached for a rag soaked with peroxide.  
  
"Hell. That crap burns."  
  
"And prevents infection, rooster boy." Megumi raised an eyebrow at his slitted eyes. Baby, she thought. "So, how'd this happen? Yahiko beat you up? I thought you were training with him today."  
  
"Kid sucker-punched me."  
  
"This hard?"  
  
"Nah, he reached for his sword in defense when I said I'd kick his ass and splintered me. Ow."  
  
She grinned behind her hand. "My poor baby."  
  
"It's not funny," he grumbled. "Do I get any comfort at all?"  
  
She kissed his cheek and patter his head, knowing she wasn't helping. "Don't threaten Yahiko, Sanosuke." She moved away to let in the next patient, when the untied bandana the fighter usually wore came around her neck, efficiently bringing her into his arms.  
  
"Five seconds," he assured her. "I should expect that much from my fiance."  
  
Megumi smiled.  
  
***  
  
"Hey! Can anyone feed a hungry guy in training?"  
  
"Yahiko," greeted Tae from the front of the Akabeko. "We haven't seen you around here lately. How are you doing?"  
  
Yahiko grinned. "I just made Sano bleed."  
  
"Excellent," she praised him. "If only that would teach him to stop running away without paying his bill." She sighed. "Maybe if he wasn't so good-looking. . ."  
  
"Yahiko!" Holding a tray of empty sake bottles, Tsubame smiled. Her blush had eased when he was around, and her brown hair was longer. And that pretty expression on her face made the young Miyojin boy grin back at her. "You didn't say anything about coming in today."  
  
"I didn't realize I would until I found myself in here and calling to your gorgeous boss." He winked at Tae and moved to give Tsubame a quick kiss to her cheek.  
  
Tae sighed. "I'd hate to lose my heart to you, too, Yahiko Miyojin. You've a good one there, Tsubame."  
  
"I know it." Her eyes darted from her samurai to Tae. "Isn't it about that time?"  
  
It wasn't quite time for her lunch break yet, but Yahiko hadn't been to the Akabeko in a couple of weeks, so Tae smiled. The number customers were slimming anyway. "It is, dear. You go on ahead." But she slipped Yahiko a handkerchief of sushi before they left."  
  
"Tae, my angel, I'll love you 'til the day I die!" he called before leaving with a hand at Tsubame's waist.  
  
"You better love me longer!" Tae retorted with a grin. Those two made a cute couple. She sighed. And if Yahiko's charm grew any more, she was afraid that her little Tsubame would be sending her a wedding invitation soon.  
  
***  
  
"Suzume! Suzume!"  
  
At the unmistakable voice of her eight-year-old little sister, Suzume turned. "Ayame, what is it?" Looking beyond her, she blinked. "Shiro."  
  
The boy named Shiro smiled. In the midst of a swirl of falling sakura, his classmate Suzume looked absolutely breathtaking. "Hi," he said timidly. "I wanted to ask you something," he said, knowing she was a girl who preferred the point to idle rambling. "Would you-"  
  
"Shiro likes you! Shiro likes you!" Ayame squealed.  
  
"Ayame!" Suzume exclaimed. "Be quiet."  
  
Ayame's lower lip protruded in a pout. "But he does," she insisted.  
  
Color flooding his cheeks, Shiro continued. "Can you - I mean, will you come to the festival with me on Saturday? You don't have to," he went on quickly. "But if you like that kind of thing, it'd be nice to have you come with me. . ."  
  
"You'd look pretty in your festival kimono," Ayame added. "Shiro might even want to kiss you."  
  
This time it was Suzume that blushed. Closing her eyes, she took in the scent of the sakura. She opened them with a smile. "I'd love to go, Shiro. I'll meet you hear ten minutes before the festival starts."  
  
"Great!" Shiro couldn't help but raise a fist in victory. "I'll see you then, Suzume. Good-bye, Ayame."  
  
"Bye-bye!" Ayame turned back to her sister with folded arms. "How come you snapped at me?"  
  
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "You were making things hard for both of us."  
  
"How come?"  
  
Suzume bent on one knee and patted her sister's head. "It's just that people's emotions get really silly when somebody likes someone."  
  
"Oh. Okay!" Ayame's interest lost for the moment, she smiled at the falling petals. "The flowers are really pretty," she said. "This was the time of year Uncle Ken-ni went away, wasn't it? And when Kaoru got married?"  
  
Suzume hesitated, bit her lip. They were waiting until Ayame turned ten to explain Kenshin's death to Ayame. She'd been told at seven, but she had been more mature than Ayame at her age. "It was. Doesn't it smell nice?"  
  
"Smells good," she agreed.  
  
Suzume took Ayame's hand and tucked a braid behind her ear. "Let's go home and start dinner for Grandpa, okay, Ayame?"  
  
"Okay. Hey, Suzume? How come Kaoru doesn't talk as much anymore?"  
  
Suzume hefted her sister onto her hip. "Why are you asking so many questions? I'll call the mean Samurai Gobbler if you don't keep things to yourself! He usually just eats men who carry swords, but I heard that he has an appetite for curious little girls today! He'll eat you for supper," she warned.  
  
As Ayame screamed in delight, Suzume sent a small frown to the cherry blossom tree she had just stood under. Kenshin, she thought. If you knew what would happen to Kaoru, would you have stayed?  
  
***  
  
The blossom-scented breeze was perfect for hanging laundry, she thought as she made her way to the line of string outside, basket in hand. Not only would it make her clothes smell nice, she'd feel accomplished for that day.  
  
Even thinking this, she didn't smile. Couldn't. Filling the basket with the clothes from the line and then replacing them with the wet bed sheets she had just finished scrubbing, she frowned as she thought about what took place underneath them. Shaking her head to clear it, she went back into the house.  
  
As she folded her nightgowns into a mahogany drawer, she pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. She'd started doing laundry six years ago, and every day for that time her thoughts had been filled with him every waking moment. He'd always insisted on doing the laundry for her, even on the rare occasions when she volunteered to.  
  
Listening for a moment, she pulled a small piece of canvas paper from the bottom of the drawer, beneath a blue bathrobe he'd purchased for her while in America.  
  
It was a work of Sanosuke's friend, the journalist. In the lovely oil painting, a man with blood-red hair pulled back behind his head held a reverse-blade katana up in a battle stance, ready to defend what he loved. Set against his magenta kimono, the man's haunting ice-blue eyes chilled an opponent down the bone. For her, they had heated and scorched.  
  
Kaoru closed her eyes as she read the kanji that had been neatly printed next to the image:  
  
"Love has never killed and will never kill. Nor will it die. Love survives forever."  
  
She pressed a tentative kiss to the painting. "I love you, Kenshin. That survived, even if you didn't." With the care of a mother to her child, she returned the artwork in the drawer next to a bloodstained piece of the kimono shown in the picture.  
  
And buried them once more with her heart.  
  
***  
  
GG: Hey, chapter one's done! Wow, this RK streak won't last long, I must admit. I just get hyped when I start a new fic - and my love for Kenshin is recently-realized. I just love him so much. *sigh* I should date someone like that. Athletic, cute, funny, agreeable, loveable, disagreeable, always protecting me, caring for me. . .  
  
Kiki Tigerclaw: You do realize the readers are asleep, don't you?  
  
GG: What? Oh.  
  
RK freaks: *snore*  
  
GG: Ah, man. *taps them* Just review, okay? Please? Review? Yes? Ah man, they're dead. . .  
  
For real, REVIEW PLEASE! 


	3. Were There Regrets?

Gundam Girl: There's something I'd like to clear up before you read this chapter (if any of you ever bother with ANs). It seems that between the English and Japanese versions of RK that I watch, I got confused with Kanriyu's name and found that "Takeda" was his last name, not first.  
  
Krieli: Um. . .duh.  
  
Right, so I am going to go through and make the names Derekai Takeda instead of Derekai Kanriyu. (Except on Blissful Ignorance, because I'm a lazy bitch.) That was silly. Same goes for Kaoru Takeda, which it pains me to type. Sorry for the confusion!  
  
Disclaimer: Nah, don't own Rurouni Kenshin. I have to wait until I rule the world. Which I will.  
  
Warning: Swearing, people paying respects to a grave, implied sexual behavior, and dark figures.  
  
Aoshi: I demand you tell me why I am a warning.  
  
GG: I think you know that better than I do.  
  
*Aoshi merely grunts, shrugging*  
  
*~Now That You've Returned~* Chapter Two  
  
"Uncle Sano! UNCLE SANO!"  
  
Sanosuke paused mid-Futai No Kiwami and slowly lowered his fist to smile in the direction of the voice. "Hey, Ayame. How's it going?" He glanced past her and met the eyes of the woman coming into the dojo yard behind Ayame for a brief moment. "Where's Suzume?"  
  
"Gramps took her to buy a new hair ribbon for the summer festival on Saturday," Ayame told him, bouncing up and down importantly. "She's going with a boy."  
  
Sano's eyes widened. "She is? Er. . .why?"  
  
Megumi's voice rang from inside the dojo. "Don't you dare ask her that, Sanosuke! It's not anybody's business but Suzume's!"  
  
"That's what you think," Sano muttered and hefted Ayame up onto his shoulder. He couldn't help but be a little protective of the two youngest ones in the group. "So what's his name?"  
  
"Shiro Yamate."  
  
"Yamate? He's in your class, isn't he, Missi-er-Kaoru?" Sano looked at the woman again and Kaoru gave the half-smile he was already accustomed to - and hated it.  
  
"Shiro is an exceptional student," Kaoru told him softly, stepping past him and into the dojo. "And probably already here."  
  
"Missie!" Sano ignored the order he had been given to abandon his nickname for her. Ayame was on the ground again and chasing after a butterfly.  
  
Kaoru looked back, straightening her training gi that she wore less and less often every month.  
  
Sano narrowed his eyes at her. "You're all right, aren't you?"  
  
Kaoru wasn't looking at him but rather at the gate beyond him. Once Sanosuke caught on, he swiveled to see the new arrivals.  
  
He dropped to the very ground at the sight of them. "Shit. . ."  
  
There was woman, slight in figure, wearing an emerald green kimono. It was the first time he had seen her so formally dressed, yet he devoted little thought to this because she was holding flowers and beside her stood a tall man in a leather trench coat.  
  
Sano turned back to look at Kaoru. She spared them two more seconds' worth of a glance before disappearing in the dojo. Ayame followed her, having lost interest in the butterfly.  
  
"You." Sano's eyes skimmed over the two of them. "Both of you."  
  
Misao stepped inside, and her taller companion followed suit.  
  
"It's good to see you again, Rooster," she murmured. He features had matured immensely, and her mouth was smiling a little. "I thought you'd still be here."  
  
"Hey, Weasel Girl." Although it was a nice variation from the everyday lifestyle of not seeing people from Shishio's made attempt at a coup de' tat, he hadn't expected the ex-Oniwabanshu leaders to appear on his home's doorstep after so many years. Standing, he paid no attention to the look he knew had crossed his face. "What are you guys doing here?"  
  
Misao's eyes had left him and were now set on a mound of dirt at the far edge of the dojo. At the head of the mound was a cross made of two thin logs tied together.  
  
"We heard about the death of the Battousai in Kyoto," Aoshi spoke quietly. "After six years, the first word arrived last month." He too saw only the subtle grave.  
  
A spark of irritation must have shown in Sano's eyes but nowadays he rarely acted on it, and this time proved the same. He doubted Aoshi Shinomori really gave a damn about Kenshin or the people he had left behind, with the minor exception of Misao. He only knew that his former opponent was now out of his reach to defeat.  
  
Misao had moved to lower herself before the grave, palms pressed together, head bowed. Aoshi stood above her, almost hovering, before walking away a bit to stand near Sanosuke as he watched her.  
  
"She wanted very badly to pay her respects to his grave and to those of you here. I do not say I approve, but it is what she wanted."  
  
Sano turned looked at his tight-jawed profile. "Why do you not approve?" he asked in suspicion. He couldn't help being cautious; he'd never been a fan of Aoshi.  
  
"Don't you believe it is disgraceful to place flowers at a grave where no body rests? I heard his body was completely obliterated. Do you know how that happened?"  
  
Sagara shrugged a little. "There was only dust and blood beneath that rock pile. It was as if the boulders acted as a Futai No Kiwami."  
  
"It's possible," Aoshi observed. "Most attacks are developed from the studying of natural disasters and such."  
  
"You know that it was no natural disaster, don't you?" Sano asked tensely.  
  
Aoshi nodded once. "I have heard the rumors."  
  
There was a mighty crashing sound from inside. Aoshi's hand went to the hilt of the sheath carrying his Kodachis. Sano smiled and turned his head as Megumi's voice filtered outside:  
  
"Kiro! Please be more careful, or I'll be stitching you up!"  
  
Sano turned back to Aoshi. "It's appreciated that you came with Misao to see Kenshin's grave, but seeing Kaoru won't be possible at the moment."  
  
Shinomori looked as though he was about to ask why but Misao suddenly stood and approached them. To those who could not tell, Aoshi's face looked as grim as ever, but to Misao, he was stonier than usual.  
  
She gave a small smile and looked at Sano. "Where is Yahiko? And Miss Kaoru?"  
  
"They're inside. But," he went on before she could move past him, "I can't let you see her. I'll have Yahiko come out if you want, but-"  
  
"Why can't we see her?" Aoshi cut in abruptly. "Her class is almost through. And this property is Miss Kamiya's by law. You have no say over who is present or absent here."  
  
Jesus, if he didn't sound like Saitoh, Sanosuke thought, irritated.  
  
Judging by the expression on Sanosuke's face, Aoshi realized he had been wrong in his previous recitation of the law.  
  
"She is not the single owner of this dojo anymore," Sano murmured. "So stuff your goddamn laws up your-"  
  
"What does that mean?" Misao cut in. "For that to happen, Miss Kaoru would have to have a relative like that of her father's siblings. But she doesn't."  
  
"There is that," Aoshi told her. "Or she would have to be married." His eyes went to Sano, and the look on his face told everything.  
  
"The name Kaoru Kamiya is dead," Sagara said to Misao, who looked a bit taken aback. His brown eyes moved to Aoshi once more. "Its successor is Kaoru Takeda."  
  
Emotion flickered in Aoshi's eyes and it was disbelief. "What?" he faltered. Misao gasped and clutched Aoshi's arm.  
  
"Kanryu Takeda?!" she exclaimed. "But he isn't.he's dead!" she blurted.  
  
"And didn't fail to have a woman conceive before he went," Sano informed her. "And that man is both Kenshin's murderer and Kaoru's husband. He lives by Western customs like his father," he continued, having by now grown accustomed to shocked expressions. "And Kaoru is almost like a slave. Megumi!" he called, twisting his head to the sliding door.  
  
Megumi appeared in the doorway, eyebrows raised. "I'm almost finished, a boy was cut so I'm. . . Oh," she said, "company."  
  
"These are allies from when we were in Kyoto. I dunno if you remember them." Sano told her, shoving his hands in his pockets. "My fiance, Megumi Takani."  
  
"Hello, Miss Megumi. Congratulations," Misao murmured, though she still wasn't smiling. "Sagara, please tell me. . . Did Himura have any regrets that you know of when he left? About Shishio or anything?"  
  
Sano cast his eyes upon her small form, and threw his shoulders back. "He never really spoke to any of us about his past. The only one he ever opened up to was Kaoru. If he did have regrets, I'm sure Kenshin would be fighting to slice 'em out, even in death."  
  
Aoshi regarded Megumi for a moment. "Takani," he murmured quietly, "if you had stayed with Kanryu, it is possible that the Battousai would be here now."  
  
Megumi was taken aback, Sano growled, and Misao gasped.  
  
"You're wrong," Sano told him, right fist clenched. "The Battousai died long before Kenshin did."  
  
Aoshi turned to the gate. "Let's go."  
  
Misao scowled at his back. "Please, Miss Megumi. . . Aoshi has trouble releasing things. He does regret not defeating Himura. Please forgive him for that fault." With a final smile of comfort, she hurried after Shinomori.  
  
Sanosuke turned to Megumi as soon as they were gone. "Megumi?" he asked at her shadowed expression. "What is it? What's wrong?"  
  
Megumi raised her face slowly to look him in the eye. "Is Aoshi right, Sanosuke?" she asked. "If I had stayed with Kanriyu, perhaps dear Ken would be. . . But I can't," she murmured, turning away. "I want to wish that I had stayed with Kanriyu to have prevented Derekai's anger, dear Ken's death, and most of all, Kaoru's torment. But, Sano, I just-"  
  
"Stop." His arms came around her shoulders, head settling atop hers. "Don't feel guilty for leaving a man you didn't love, Megumi. Please. . ." He gripped her arms and turned her to face him. His hands rose to cup her face. "Don't regret staying with a man you do love."  
  
Megumi's usually-composed face crumpled, and she fell forward into his embrace, crying softly. She managed to gasp out, "I do love you, Sano."  
  
From the gate Misao had not bothered to close, a man in a black cloak watched, the shadows provided by the cloak's hood concealing his face. Without a sound, he left the vicinity, an odd tapping sound coming from his hip.  
  
***  
  
"I'm back!"  
  
The sound of an open door sliding shut.  
  
"Kaoru, do you hear me?"  
  
Kaoru closed her eyes, patting her damp hair with the fluffy cotton towel he had bought for her. She was seated on the bed, the raised bed he had bought from American traders. She recalled how difficult adjusting had been when he had been so used to her futon.  
  
"Kaoru, have you gone to the Akabeko?"  
  
Kaoru lifted her head to face the door. "I'm dressing!" she called to him. "The food is on the counter!" After an incident soon following their marriage, he had never trusted her to cook again. Miss Tae had graciously provided food for their dinner, the only meal he was at home for. Otherwise, Kaoru did not eat. That way, she would be thinner and the corset he insisted she wear under the uncomfortable lace bodice of those traditional Western gowns did not have to be tied quite so tightly.  
  
After a moment, she saw the knob of the western door twist and it opened. Her reaction was to use the towel to cover herself, clad only in the many assorted undergarments of Western clothing.  
  
Derekai's eyes were sharp as nails above the tie he had loosened. In one hand he held his jacket. And his eyes did not soften when they fell on Kaoru, they simply intensified to a level she had come to be wary of.  
  
"Good evening," he said in English first. When Kaoru's brows lowered in her struggle to remember their meaning, he sighed. "Kon ben wa."  
  
Kaoru nodded and repeated the words. "I will come in a minute to put dinner out," she told him quietly, eyes on her bare feet.  
  
Derekai regarded her in a way that made her stomach clench. It did not worry her; she had long since grown very used to that sickening feeling. She never let him know. He had drilled into her the custom of women being submissive to their husbands, and saying she felt ill would only bring on a longer "interaction" and perhaps some fresh beatings of reprimand. And she could never fight back.  
  
"I don't know if I'm in the mood for Tae's food tonight," he told her in an almost conversational tone. "Granted, hers is very fine cooking. But yours. . ."  
  
"You have never liked my meals," Kaoru said softly, fighting a cringe when his fingers threaded through her hair.  
  
Takeda the younger smiled softly, lips pressed to the curtain of raven hair. "Not the kind you keep over a stove." He took her shoulders. "Tell me you love me, Kaoru. I hear it from you so rarely."  
  
Kaoru still did not meet his eyes. It was not worth the risk. "I-"  
  
"No, that is selfish of me," Derekai cut in. "I will not demand you to say words you do not wish to speak."  
  
Kaoru blinked. He thought he was doing her a favor.  
  
"Instead. . ." Reaching for the towel, he slowly pulled it down and began unlacing and untying the garments she had spent nearly twenty minutes putting on. "Why don't you show me?"  
  
Kaoru did meet his eyes now. They were a deep blue. Sometimes, when they were darkened like this, she could almost imagine them as purple.  
  
And it was that purple shade that got her through his "love."  
  
***  
  
Yahiko Miyoujin sparred with Shiro Yamate, who was a few years younger than his age of sixteen.  
  
"You don't attack forcefully enough, Yamate!" Yahiko called to him. "Come at me with your full strength!"  
  
The younger boy advanced with a speed almost besting Yahiko's. With a cry, he raised his wooden sword to the level of his elbow-  
  
Yahiko's eyebrows lowered as he blocked the offense easily and pull back. "That's enough for this evening. It's getting late." He took Yamate's weapon and set them both on the rack by the wall. "Your mind is not where it should be. I know fully well that Master Kamiya has trained you to stay completely focused. I assisted in sharpening that lesson. Do you agree, Shiro?"  
  
"Yes, sir," he answered, a little shrunken by his loss. "I am. . .distracted."  
  
"That is apparent," Yahiko answered and then continued, not unkindly, "what occupies the head that is supposed to think of only the current battle?"  
  
At this, Shiro's cheeks reddened a bit. "Forgive me, Assistant Master. . . I am thinking of a girl."  
  
At this, a grin broke out on Yahiko's face. "Suzume."  
  
"You know?"  
  
"Ayame has never kept secrets well," he laughed. "You'd better keep on your toes, Shiro. Her Uncles Sano and Yahiko will be watching you very closely. Now hurry and start home. I've kept you later than I intended. Work on your attacks."  
  
"Yes, sir." Shiro bowed in respect and turned to leave.  
  
"And Shiro!"  
  
Yamate turned back.  
  
Yahiko flashed him a grin. "I have seen Suzume in her festival kimono. Be sure to shower her with compliments when you see her that day, it will certainly further you in her favor."  
  
Shiro's blush deepened. "Yes, sir."  
  
Yahiko smiled as the door slid shut and went about neatening the practice room. This dojo would not be just his home for very long. Sano was still living in the longhouse and Megumi remained at the clinic, but Kaoru had invited them to live at the dojo once they were married, and Yahiko had decided to move out to the longhouse instead. He certainly didn't want to be around after the fox and the rooster had given their vows.  
  
Wedding vows. His smile faded. The first wedding he'd seen had been Kaoru's. It had not been a pleasant one. It had been beautiful, yes, it had been extremely expensive. But their had been no feeling behind it, not from Derekai, who Yahiko had suspected only wanted a bedmate, nor from Kaoru, who obviously still mourned Kenshin's death deep inside. The guests from Derekai's "family" had consisted of business associates, and Kaoru's guests had included himself, Megumi, Sanosuke, Dr. Gensai, Ayame, and Suzume. Misao and Aoshi had arrived that night from Kyoto to offer their best regards, and even Hajime Saitou, who had revealed himself alive and well months after the fight with Shishio, had sent a brief letter containing more-or-less positive words.  
  
But, no, it had not been pleasant. And it was something he rarely cared to remember. It was terrible, at first, seeing his master practically enslaved by a man whose wife required elegance, grace, and a submissive spirit. And while Kaoru had the first two to a certain extent, "submissive" would not have been a word Yahiko would have chosen to describe her.  
  
He knew Derekai Takeda, a first-class businessman, cared nothing for her. But she was one of the more beautiful women in Tokyo, and, however poor, she was considerably high in social groups as the owner of the Kamiya dojo. That was why he had forced her to marry him. And there was no doubt in Yahiko's mind that the muscle-slimmed, compact body Kaoru had did not please him.  
  
Suddenly, every muscle Yahiko had tensed. Swiveling on his heel, he saw a hooded-cloaked man standing in the doorway of the dojo.  
  
Annoyed that he had not heard the door open, his voice came out rough. "Or are you?" Reaching out an arm, he took up a wooden sword. This building was special to him, and he would protect it. "Why do you disgrace this place by not asking for permission to enter at the gate?"  
  
The man reached under his cloak for what was undeniably the hilt of a sword.  
  
"Hold it!" Yahiko held out the tip of his sword and the man circled around to the back of the training hall.  
  
There was a bit of laughing as Sanosuke came into the hall, leading Megumi by the waste. "Hey, Yahiko. I thought. . . Who are you?"  
  
Sano's right hand had dropped Megumi's to curl into a fist. Megumi's face scowled at the intruder.  
  
The man was silent.  
  
"You don't tell me. . ." Sano's long legs carried him swiftly across the room, and his hand reached for the hood. "I'll reveal you myself."  
  
The man left arm grabbed his elbow and went under Sano's arm.  
  
"You're fast, but robbers don't steal from this place for a reason!" Yahiko shouted, surging toward the black-encased figure.  
  
The swing of his sword missed the figure's head, but it snagged a bit of the hood and yanked it back an inch or two. Sano's fist went limp. Yahiko dropped his sword. Megumi's frown had melted in a look of pure disbelief.  
  
A lock of burning-red hair had spilled from the hood. With no shadows to hide them, a pair of large violet eyes blinked out at the three.  
  
"It can't be," Megumi gasped first.  
  
Yahiko's eyes were wide. "You are. . ."  
  
"Oro."  
  
Sano fell to the floor on his butt.  
  
"Kenshin. . ."  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Gundam Girl: Oh, hm. . . A cliffhanger. My mistake, wasn't really my intention, no it wasn't.  
  
This was fairly long. Animechick should be pleased. "Sea Of Emotion" chapter four is coming next, AC!  
  
KT: Ooh, Kenshin's alive!  
  
^_^ Hope you all liked this chapter - enough to make you wanna review! Please do review.  
  
-GG 


	4. Red Hair And A Scar

Gundam Girl: And so I write chapter three.  
  
Kenshin: GG-dono?  
  
Yes, Kenshin?  
  
Kenshin: Why did you lead the readers to believe I was dead, de gozaru ka?  
  
Drama, Kenshin dear, it's all about drama.  
  
Kenshin: But the readers love me. . .  
  
But Kenshin, it's artistic if you suffer these days!  
  
Kenshin: -_-x; Oro. . .  
  
Disclaimers: All of them apply.  
  
Warning: Severe shock, anger, sadness. . . That may be it for this chapter.  
  
Note: It has been brought to my attention that I have the little girls (Ayame and Suzume) mixed up, Suzume being the older and Ayame being the younger in the story. If this is true, sorry! For now, I'm just going to keep it that way. And though it may seem stupid, I'll probably go back once the fic is finished and then correct it. Kay? Kay.  
  
*~Now That You've Returned~* Chapter Three  
  
"Kenshin. . ."  
  
Sano fell back on a forearm, not a single muscle willing to support him. His eyes were wide, his face pale, and his teeth clenched. Denial glinted in his expression, and everything about the way he stared at the cross- shaped scar on the red-haired swordsman's cheek read disbelief.  
  
Megumi and Yahiko continued to look on as well with similar expression of shock.  
  
"You can't be him!" Yahiko exclaimed at last. Couldn't be. The Kenshin he'd known as a ten-year-old boy had been invincible, unstoppable, and, most of all, had died six years ago. And he knew. . .he knew the dead didn't come back to life. The gods didn't work that way. Even for Kenshin.  
  
"Kenshin's dead," added Sanosuke, as though he was trying to convince himself that the man in front of him was a mere illusion. "He's dead!"  
  
The short carrier of the sakabatou looked hurt. "Yahiko, Sano. . . I'm alive. I'm not dead," he said gently, in the soft, oh-too-familiar voice of the former Hitokiri Battousai.  
  
Megumi, on the other hand, had seemed to come back to sharp alertness - and she flew at the samurai.  
  
"It is," she sobbed. "It is you. Oh, dear, dear Ken! I thought you were dead! I truly thought you were!"  
  
The ghost or whatever Sano thought he was blinked for a moment, then shifted to hold the female doctor. "Yes, Miss Megumi. I've returned."  
  
Sanosuke barely registered Yahiko falling to the floor as well.  
  
"No WAY!" Sano said defiantly. "Can't be! Uh-uh! Kenshin's a noble samurai! Kenshin's no coward."  
  
"I like to think so, that I do."  
  
"Then WHY?!" the ex-gangster demanded, clenching his right fist and pounding on the floor. "Why did you leave?! Those rocks fell. . . And Derekai-"  
  
"Who?" Kenshin asked.  
  
"Derekai," Yahiko said abruptly, having found his voice. "Kenshin. . . The guy that tried to kill you. . .did kill you. . .is Derekai Takeda. . . Kanriyu Takeda's son."  
  
"Interesting," he said without missing a beat. The red-haired samurai didn't look the least bit surprised. "I'm always connected to somebody somehow."  
  
"That isn't the worst of it," Megumi told him fiercely. Her tears had dried and now her eyes were sharp and sassy. "After you - died - Yahiko's life was in danger."  
  
At this, Yahiko bowed his head, and every part of him seemed to tense.  
  
"Kaoru was already distraught about losing you," the doctor when on, noticing Kenshin's sudden alertness upon mentioning the Kamiya woman's name. "But when Takeda attempted to hurt Yahiko as well, she went berserk. From what I'm told."  
  
"Yeah," Sano added, looking tired. "She seemed totally helpless." As he said the words, his temper seemed to rise again. "And do you even know why? It was because you were gone! Shit, Kenshin, do you have any idea what's happened the past six years?!"  
  
Kenshin's seemed to freeze, even as Megumi stepped out of his arms and back to Sanosuke.  
  
"I suppose the first thing to tell you is that we're engaged," Takani said gently, though not happily. Where there was grief there could be no joy.  
  
"Another is to say that Suzume is almost a woman and has a boy pursuing her to prove it," added Yahiko. "I'm almost ready to put a ring on Tsubame's finger. . ."  
  
"And," finished Sano, "Kaoru already has one on hers."  
  
The silence that echoed throughout the whole dojo was deadly. Kenshin didn't dare take a breath; he was certain the air would be venomous. Although he must have breathed the poison in already - for it was dripping straight to his heart.  
  
Several things registered in his mind. The first was that she was married. The second was that she had been wed to either a Western man or a man used to going by the west's customs. The third was that the whole idea of her already being a wife ached him intensely.  
  
Kaoru. . . Miss Kaoru was married? How did that fit? Megumi had just said she'd been horrified by his death.  
  
"It's been only six years," he whispered. "And she's already. . .taken?"  
  
"Actually, it was closer to six minutes," Sanosuke confirmed. "And what do ya mean 'only'?! Kenshin, Jesus, all of us had our lives changed when we thought you were dead! Missie the most. You should see Takeda! He's no different from his father, unless he's more ruthless. God knows what she is to him. He takes whores, even as a married man, and she could be nothing but one more of them to that bastard!"  
  
"Soon she'll not come here to teach again," Yahiko told his former idol. "Less and less she comes here. Maybe it's Takeda's command. Maybe it's her own desire. But soon this dojo will be mine, as her assistant master, and then what? Would I be forced to live somewhere that rightfully belongs in the Kamiya line?"  
  
"She has conceived no children?" Kenshin asked.  
  
Megumi tossed her hair over her children. "Oh, she's conceived. Four times to be exact. And each time I've brewed the poison that has murdered the child, because Derekai says that no heir will be produced until he demands it to be so. It is not likely I will kill another of her offspring, because another may not be made." Her expression deeply saddened. "She may not be able to do so."  
  
Kenshin closed his eyes. At time like these, he wanted Tomoe. Not for romance, but for guidance and for comfort. How much could he ask of Tomoe when he himself had deserted Tokyo for six years? And Kaoru was. . . Kaoru was at the hands of a husband that cared nothing for her.  
  
Already he despised Kanriyu's bastard child, and he had not laid eyes on him.  
  
Yahiko blinked. Had he just seen amber in the violet depths of Kenshin's eyes?  
  
No, he told himself, mentally shaking his head. He hadn't. He hoped.  
  
Megumi scrutinized very carefully the reaction on Kenshin's face. As a doctor and the fiancée of Sanosuke Sagara, she had become a very good judge of human emotion and understanding. Kenshin had been a challenging puzzle, but not impossible to put together. And if she was not mistaken, she saw jealousy spark into his eyes. Jealousy of Derekai Takeda.  
  
Six years ago, that thought would have annoyed her. Kenshin's well-hidden feelings for Kaoru Kamiya had not gone unnoticed by her very keen eye. Kenshin had not trusted himself to be a good man to her, and he had not made any advancement on the younger woman, and now he suffered for it.  
  
"Kenshin, tell me somethin'," Sano said, and Kenshin turned his dazed violet eyes to him. "How did you survive the rockslide?"  
  
Kenshin seemed rather hard pressed to release the topic of Mrs. Takeda, but his eyes became more alert nonetheless. "I had trouble with it, yes. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have lived through it if I hadn't seen you execute the Futai No Kiwami at Mt. Hiei. My speed from Hiten Mitsurugi helped me move out of the way enough for only a few of the sharper rocks to slash me."  
  
"You were hurt?" questioned Megumi. "Kenshin. . ."  
  
"The cut was long, but not deep. I found a good doctor in the wilderness outside of Tokyo. He is probably dead now, for he was an old man. But he did save my life, that he did. As for the actual rockslide, I barely saw Takeda's face before the boulders began tumbling from the cliff. But I do remember. . ." Kenshin's face went stormy, like the calm before a hurricane. "He was smiling. Largely, insanely smiling."  
  
"It is a cruel son that murders for his father," Megumi murdered.  
  
"So why did you leave?" demanded Yahiko. "You could have stayed. Megumi could've fixed you up! You could have fought Derekai!"  
  
"It would not have been so simple," Kenshin replied shortly. "In my condition, I had to stay with the old doctor, who was called Hirokini, for a month. The look in that boy's eyes said that he yearned and lived for my death. With such determination, there was no chance of him not trying to use you, my friends, for my destruction."  
  
"We would have fought him!" Sano insisted.  
  
"I remember that you were both still injured at the time from the days in Kyoto. You may have confronted him had I remained, but you would not have won, that you would not have."  
  
"A lousy excuse," Sano accused. "There was something else. You're no coward."  
  
"Whether I am or not remains to be seen," Kenshin replied smoothly. "Miss Megumi," he said, turning to look at the doctor, "where can I find this Derekai Takeda's house?"  
  
Megumi looked startled. "He lives in the center of the city. But Kenshin - Kenshin, you're not going there, are you?"  
  
"I will," Kenshin told her. "But don't worry. I have no intention of seeing Miss Kaoru just yet. I admit to not holding the courage."  
  
How could he, he wondered, when she was no longer able to hold anything for him in her heart?  
  
"So where are you headed, then?" Sano asked. "Do'ya want me to come with you?"  
  
"Not necessary," Kenshin insisted, sending him the ghost of a smile. "I will be quite safe at the police station in Captain Saito's office."  
  
***  
  
Kaoru stared at the ceiling. She had memorized every detail about it by now, even though it was only the underside of a roof. There was a small crack in the left corner; water leaked between the right walls, and one of the windowpanes allowed a draft in.  
  
Derekai had fallen asleep immediately after the intimate reminder of just who controlled the mansion, the servants, and her. While he slept, he never looked peaceful. Tortured, maybe, but more often then not he seemed mad. If dreams tormented him, Kaoru had never willed them away. Every part of the younger boy's waking was flawless for him; he did not deserve utmost harmony in his dreams as well.  
  
She did not want to close her eyes. When she did, the image of soft, determined, violet orbs filled her vision. The terror of a scar lay in her mind. And a comforting, reassuring voice rang in her ears.  
  
Kaoru sat up and drew her knees to her chest. Derekai remained sleeping as she broke down into silent, harsh sobs that racked her entire body. More and more lately she was dreaming of Kenshin. It pained her; after six years, she was still trying to forget him and still feared that she truly would.  
  
Megumi would see her as weak if she saw her now. Well, she was, wasn't she? Wouldn't Megumi have weakened a bit to if she had been forced into marriage with the one who had killed Kenshin Himura?  
  
Probably not, she thought miserably. But only one person had ever asked her to be strong for him. And he was dead.  
  
He was dead. . .  
  
****************************************************************  
  
GG: Sorry about the chapter being slightly shorter than you (and I) would most likely prefer. Hope this chapter pleased you though, folks.  
  
Next chapter: Saito makes another entrance. Or rather, Kenshin goes to him. . . Ah well. PPPPPLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAASSSEE REVIEW!! 


	5. Himura

GG: Thanks for reading, everybody! This chapter's a doozy, so I hope you all enjoy it.  
  
Disclaimer: Watsuke's. Excuse me while I go kill the man and take his story. (J/k!)  
  
*~Now That You've Returned~* Chapter Four  
  
By Gundam Girl  
  
There was a commotion in the police station's lobby. Not one for much noise while working, Hajime Saito got up from his wide desk and went to the window.  
  
A stranger stood out in entrance dressed in a long cloak. A foreigner, Saito figured and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. Lighting it, he turned just as a desk worker came in looking worried.  
  
"Captain Saito," he breathed. "There's someone who wishes to see you immediately."  
  
"Appointment?" Saito inquired, and the desk worker shook his head. He was sweating with nerves.  
  
"He carries a strange sword, sir. We're a little afraid to approach him. He has the oddest yellow eyes..."  
  
The lighter Saito had only recently taken up snapped off and the metallic sound reverberated throughout the office. "Yellow eyes? A strange sword?"  
  
The subordinate nodded, patting his damp neck with a handkerchief. "The sword is reversed, sir, and—"  
  
Saito walked briskly past him. "A sakabatou," he told the officer coolly, "should not be a threat to the Tokyo police. Neither should any kind of eyes."  
  
The desk worker leaned heavily against the wall. "But," he said to no one but himself, "wasn't there once a man with yellow eyes who slew all that crossed him? Even policemen cherish their lives."  
  
Saito was not in the mood for games. If the fellow turned up as a wannabe Hotokiri Battousai, he would not hesitate to lock him up. Carrying swords in the street was still against Meiji law.  
  
Half-bursting into the lobby, Saito immediately scanned the arrival carefully. His hood was over his head, but it was as the subordinate had said. When the stranger shifted to look at him, Saito saw the glowing golden eyes.  
  
"Captain Saito," another lower office addressed him, "are you going to see this man?"  
  
"Reveal your face," Saito commanded, ignoring the officer's question. "Show it to me or you'll leave now."  
  
He waited a beat but the man lowered his hood. Out fell the ragged tumble of blood-colored hair, and the eyes lost their amber look to take on a violet tint. The smile on the man's face would be distinguishable in any crowd, at least to those that knew him.  
  
"It's been many years," Kenshin said cheerfully. "Hasn't it, Saito? How's your wife?"  
  
Saito had to forcibly tighten his jaw to keep it from dropping. "Indeed it has, Himura. And Tokio is fine." He glanced at the other officers. He was the only one on the current shift who'd been around for the last six years. There was no recognition at hearing the newcomer's name.  
  
Idiots, Saito thought with resentment.  
  
"Come this way, Himura," Saito invited, turning back to the corridor just as the messenger from before was coming back into the lobby. "We'll discuss your sudden visit in private."  
  
"Just as I was hoping it would be." Kenshin was impressed; though he could tell Saito was surprised, he well hid it and acted as though the former Battousai had been in Tokyo every day since first coming to town.  
  
With the slightest of shrugs, he followed, leaving the rookie officers confused and scratching their heads.  
  
In his office, Saito closed the door. "Will you sit?" he asked half- casually.  
  
Kenshin rested one hand on his sakabatou's hilt; not out of threat, but habit. "I think I'll stand."  
  
"Very well." Saito lowered his long body into the chair behind his desk and flattened his palms against the surface. "Well," he said at length. "You are alive."  
  
"That I am." Kenshin angled his head to study Saito. Was his hair thinner, by any chance?  
  
"I'm afraid you've caught me by surprise. I thought you were dead."  
  
"You and everyone else."  
  
"Can you blame us, Himura?" Saito now folded his hands and leaned on his elbows. "The rocks were removed; there was no evidence to your continuing existence. Sanosuke Sagara had an excellent theory with the Futai No Kiwami."  
  
His eyebrows lowered. "And so you didn't—"  
  
"Do not take me for a fool," Saito interrupted. "I put further investigation into the matter for well over two months as an Italian Inspector 'Garius Troi.' Sagara ultimately fell for the trick and decided to excuse the whole matter. But he's a good friend to you, Himura, though God knows why. He was just busy preparing for Miss Kamiya's wedding."  
  
Saito saw Kenshin's grip tighten on the sword hilt. "Ah, so you do know. That's all for the better than. I certainly wouldn't want to break the news to you. I assume you've seen young Master Miyojin?"  
  
"Yahiko seems to be doing well. I went to the Kamiya dojo before I came here."  
  
"Naturally. Well, as for Derekai Takeda, there was no concrete evidence of his murdering you or even threatening Miyojin. Now of course, I know better, but the Takeda boy's whole life was centered around that single piece of, shall we say, debauchery. No weapons were found on his premises, no plans. There wasn't so much as a cutting knife. And his abrupt marriage to Kaoru Kamiya is by no means against written law, just questionable. I'm afraid her reputation was tarnished for quite awhile, the most prominent rumor being that she carried your child and needed a husband to eliminate the shame." Saito interestedly watched the brief flash of amber opposing the violet in Kenshin's eyes. "Time, of course, proved that to be only talk. But to make a long story short, his wedding to Miss Kamiya was legal and, more importantly, binding."  
  
"Saito," Kenshin said slowly, "you know as I do that Miss Kaoru did not love a man she met in a few minutes."  
  
"That's obvious, Himura. One look in that woman's eyes and you see all the misery in the world. I'm sorry," he said suddenly and Kenshin's grip relaxed somewhat. "But I suppose you deserve all the facts."  
  
Kenshin's shoulders straightened. "I'll unbind her, Saito."  
  
He stared. "You can't overrun the law. You'd never be able to keep it hidden. He's got money stashed in all kind of throats."  
  
"I at least have to see her before I go that far," Kenshin told him, looking at the desk rather than Saito. "But I can hardly go knock on her husband's door." Now he did sit in one of the chairs. "What's happening lately? Have the summer celebrations begun yet?"  
  
"The first festival is on Saturday," Saito responded, crossing his arms and leaning back. "The Takedas go every year. It's something Derekai uses to show his 'affectionate doting' on his wife. Buys her a new kimono every year because he believes gifts are the only way to a woman's heart. He really is filth."  
  
If Kenshin didn't know that there was more to Hajime Saito than met the eye, he'd have laughed. But Saito did have a wife that loved him, and so he had to be capable of reciprocating the emotion.  
  
"Anyway," Saito said, "I don't exactly know what kind of opportunity you're hoping for. But you can find her there. It's better than pulling her out of the street. Did you know she still doesn't cook for him? Tae from the Akabeko either delivers food or Miss Kaoru picks it up." He glared warningly. "Don't make a scene in the market, Himura."  
  
"No, I'll wait until the festival," Kenshin promised. He stood up. "Thank you, Captain Saito." He was pleased when Saito shook his proffered hand. Some things, he figured, were bound to change over six years.  
  
"Where will you go?" Saito asked. "If you need it very badly, Tokio could make you a place at our home." Listening to himself, he mentally shook his head. Here he was the former leader of the third division on the Shinsengumi, offering his rival the Battousai a place to stay."  
  
Kenshin seemed to be amused too, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "No, I think I'll make one more stop before the night is over."  
  
Saito nodded. "Hurry then. It's getting late, and they're bound for Kyoto again tomorrow." He smirked. "Did you know they recently came to pay respects to your grave?"  
  
Kenshin remembered the wooden cross in the front of the Kamiya dojo. "Did they?"  
  
"Aoshi Shinomori isn't truly the type to come honor the dead. I suppose that was the doing of Misao Makimachi."  
  
"It would be," Kenshin murmured.  
  
"I suppose a welcome back is in order. You have that, Himura." Saito opened the door for him. "Best of luck with whatever plans you intend to make an attempt to carry out."  
  
"Thank you." Kenshin shook his hand once more and then walked steadily out of the police station with the implanted valor he had always possessed.  
  
Saito sat down again and rested his forehead on her joined hands.  
  
"Himura," he thought aloud, "get that woman of the hell out of there."  
  
So commanding, he lit up another cigarette.  
  
***  
  
It took quite a bit of negotiating (and a promise to help the woman with her laundry), but Kenshin was able to convince the innkeeper to allow him to go up to Shinomori Aoshi's room by himself.  
  
When he knocked, there was a rather alarming scramble coming from inside. Kenshin's pessimistic side didn't eliminate the possibility that Aoshi and Miss Misao were out and they had robbers.  
  
But no; soon the door opened and light spilled out to reveal the tall figure of Aoshi Shinomori, lacking his trench coat. His dark pants were only half buttoned and his black shirt hung open. The split-second Kenshin took to glance around him showed Misao shrugging into her customary blue half-kimono.  
  
Obviously something had been interrupted.  
  
But there was no time for that because Aoshi's expression was as close to hysterical as Kenshin had ever seen it.  
  
"Hi..." Almost certain he was seeing things – because he had to be, he *had* to be – Aoshi took a step backward and forgot to breath. Had they ordered from the Akabeko? Was this a hauntingly similar-looking delivery boy? "Himura?"  
  
Misao paused in tying her shirt together. For a short time, Aoshi had suffered nightmares of Kenshin's death. Perhaps he was having a relapse. "Aoshi," she began, turning to the door to soothe whatever arrival he may have alarmed. "There isn't—"  
  
But she froze, every muscle going taut as she saw who stood in their door.  
  
"Himura..."  
  
"I thought it would be best to see you," Kenshin told them. "I apologize for being a nuisance this late. Would it be too much trouble for me to come in?"  
  
Aoshi only took another step back and since it seemed that the small motion would be the most proper of welcomes he would get, the redheaded samurai stepped inside and closed the door himself.  
  
"Good evening," he said lightly.  
  
Misao fell to the floor. "Himura," she murmured. "What... You're alive? What the hell?"  
  
Not surprised nor offended, Kenshin only smiled. "Yes, I know; you thought I was dead."  
  
"Well...*yeah.* I mean, God. You're alive?" Misao repeated. She managed to work her way to her knees.  
  
"Can six years absence really be underestimating you?" Aoshi asked, more to himself than to Kenshin.  
  
"No. For all anyone may have thought, I could have just gone wandering again," Kenshin replied for whatever it was worth. "Please sit, Aoshi, Miss Misao. I have much to say."  
  
Aoshi walked stiffly to the center of the room and lowered himself to Indian style on the floor. Misao complied by simply falling back onto her behind.  
  
Kenshin went to his knees before them and bowed slightly. "Your shock is a little flattering," he joked, "and a little embarrassing."  
  
Some of the color went back to Misao's face. "Like you have anything to be embarrassed about!" she exclaimed. "I just put flowers on your grave!"  
  
"It's comforting to know," Aoshi said, much more quietly, "that there was no lifeless body to put in it."  
  
"I'm just fine," Kenshin assured him. "But enough of that. If you really want the story, you can go and see Sano."  
  
"We're leaving tomorrow," Misao murmured. "Back to Kyoto. But damn, now I really wanna stay."  
  
"That's good. That's why I came. I want to ask you to stay in Tokyo for just a while longer. Things here need to be seen to." Kenshin's smile faded. "When I say things—"  
  
"You mean Kaoru Ka—Takeda," Aoshi replied, still unused to saying his former employer's name again. "Kanryu's son's wife."  
  
Kanryu's mad grin was still burned fiercely into Kenshin's mind, and if Derekai's smile was anything like that, his blood-lusting Battousai side would be hard to hold back. It was one of the reasons Kenshin wanted Aoshi to stay. Another...  
  
"I've a mind to investigate Derekai Takeda myself," Kenshin explained. "Aoshi, as you can guess, I need information on his back round. When you worked for Kanryu, was there anything in his profile that regarded a woman who conceived for him?"  
  
Aoshi cleared his throat to get his tongue to work. "The check I did on Kanryu was thorough, Himura, that I can promise you. He had never been married, and his particular interest in women didn't really stretch past the red light district. But there was one – Aya Hokira. Kanryu had her live with him for a few weeks before he came to Tokyo. The child she conceived for him would have been killed, but Kanryu left, and Hokira just didn't have the courage to go through the only kind of operation she could afford."  
  
"You mean she would have...?" Misao shuddered. "Oh, ew!"*  
  
"So the baby lived," Kenshin concluded, "and grew up to be Derekai Takeda, Kanryu's illegitimate son and heir by default. I understand." He stood. "For now, that's all I need. Aoshi, Miss Misao – will you stay?"  
  
"It isn't really like we can just leave now," Misao muttered. "Aoshi?" Her tone was hopeful, and she laid a hand on the tall man's arm. "Please agree to the stay here for a while. You saw Miss Kaoru..."  
  
Aoshi studied Kenshin with wary eyes. "You are standing in front of me," he commented solidly. "And I am not dreaming."  
  
"I'm real," Kenshin affirmed. "I did not die, Aoshi."  
  
His black eyes closed, and he focused on Misao's light tough, so very effective. "Fine. I'll see this through, Himura. But not for you. For all I care, you could have died and my life would remain mostly ineffective." He opened his gaze again. "But when a spirit like Kaoru Kamiya's is cut by so jagged a sword, it is difficult to detach yourself."  
  
"Thank you, Aoshi." Kenshin stood up. "Thank you as well, Miss Misao."  
  
She smiled. "We're here for you, Himura."  
  
When he walked out of the inn and back toward the dojo to find Sano and Yahiko, Kenshin balled up a fist.  
  
The person he'd wanted to see the most was very much gone.  
  
But action was to be taken.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
*In the 1800s, the only common way to have a child abortion was to stick sharp implements (knives, forks, swords, even coat hangers) up inside a woman and hope for the best. This usually only resulted in a serious injury to the mother, or death to both the mother and the baby. (Yes, very gross.)  
  
GG: Thanks for reading, guys! I hope everone's happy that Aoshi and Misao are sticking around. Review! 


	6. Festivities

Here's 5. And it's a biggie...Kenshin meets with Derekai and Kaoru. A little bit Sano/Megumi sap too.  
  
Warning: A little language, a bit of sexual abuse.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own RK.  
  
Now That You've Returned Chapter Five  
  
By Gundam Girl  
  
"So, that is your plan?" In a small sitting room in Dr. Gensai's clinic, Megumi offered Kenshin more sake by lifting the bottle.  
  
"As of now." He accepted and raised a red eyebrow. "Do you disapprove?"  
  
"No, Ken, it isn't that." Though she kept a light air and a serene face, Megumi was worried and Kenshin sensed it. "The festival is very...public."  
  
He smiled slightly. "Isn't it meant to be?"  
  
"It is, yes. But, Kenshin, you aren't any normal public; you've been assumed dead for six years. What if someone sees you?"  
  
Kenshin shrugged. "They'll see a look-alike who must be unfortunate to be mistaken as Battousai, that they will."  
  
Megumi shook her head. "Are you sure you want to do this? To see her so soon? You haven't been back here very long Kenshin and a lot of us are still shocked. Yahiko hasn't stopped training for days... Are you ready for something you may decide not to accept?"  
  
Sanosuke suddenly came in. "I heard that last one, and come on. Ease up, Megumi. Kenshin's not a dumb guy."  
  
"I know," she murmured, looking at her lap. "I think I've become...sentimental ever since I agreed to marry you."  
  
Sano's grin was quick and arrogant and made Megumi's stomach flip. "I think you've been sentimental ever since you fell in love with me, fox lady."  
  
"Don't be ridiculous. It hasn't been that long, you foolish rooster."  
  
"She's in denial," Sano whispered to Kenshin behind his large hand, which set Megumi fuming and loving him all the more. He sat down Indian-style at the table between them. He was sweating a little, Kenshin noted.  
  
"Sano, have you been training?" the far shorter man asked.  
  
Damn, it was really, really strange to have his best friend back. "'Course I have," he answered cheerily. "Do I look like the kind of guy to settle for a gut and a wife?" He threw back his head and laughed in a way that was all Sanosuke Sagara, raucous and full. "Besides," he added more soberly. "You were gone. So I figured if Kenshin wasn't around to protect those he loved, then I was sure as hell gonna do it for him."  
  
Kenshin lowered his head. "You have done a lot for me, that you have. I must have caused you many sacrifices and a lot of pain."  
  
"Yeah." When Kenshin winced, Sano shrugged. "Pal, I know I've said this. We thought you, Kenshin Himura – even the Battousai – were dead. That itself hurt like a bitch."  
  
Megumi poured herself another cup of sake, then another for Sanosuke, mentally sighing at Sano's crudeness once again. "I'm not completely recovered from your, well, rise from the dead. What is Kaoru going to say when you approach her?"  
  
"So you are?" Sano grunted and placed his hands behind his head. "She'll pass out before she remembers that she has a tongue to speak with."  
  
"Maybe. But there was a time I ran from her." And her love, Kenshin added silently. He tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling as he remembered her soft, gasping sobs when he left for Kyoto to face Shishio. He started to put the memory away and stopped. He didn't deserve the luxury of forgetting. He didn't deserve it at all. "I can only hope she will not run from me."  
  
"Maybe," Megumi suggested suddenly, "we should try to disguise you a bit when you go to the festival, make you look like less of a stranger. Strangers draw a lot of attention in Tokyo."  
  
"Oro?" Kenshin continued to smile, but now it was uneasily. "What do you have it mind?"  
  
Megumi innocently sipped the rest of her sake. And smirked like the fox Sano always said she was.  
  
---  
  
Derekai enjoyed the summer. The summer reminded him just how more successful he grow each year. The summer caused him to meet at least one new politician for him to become good acquaintances with. And, of course, the summer was when he had killed Battousai Kenshin Himura.  
  
It was the sixth summer this year. He himself would be turning twenty in a few weeks. The age would finally match up decently with his wife's years of twenty-five. He would admit to always feeling a little small in that area.  
  
But that was it; Derekai was a very large man. At fourteen he had been nearly as tall as Battousai. And when the rocks he had sent down on the samurai had crushed him, Derekai had felt miles higher.  
  
Another reason he liked summer was that it more or less, in a word, renewed his and Kaoru's relationship. It reminded her just who it was she belonged to. That person was him, not some ghost of the past that she couldn't seem to let go of no matter what he did. It was something Derekai had inevitably come to live with – Himura was dead, and Takeda was alive. That was how it would always be.  
  
With a box in his hands, he walked into his house the afternoon before the festival, which was set to begin at dusk when the lampposts and traditional lanterns were lit. He called for Kaoru. As usual, she hurried to meet him.  
  
She was graceful as she moved down the stairs, double-time, as he wanted it. She put on the smile she always wore just for him; wide and strong. Some would say it was fake, but that was because they didn't know his Kaoru like he did.  
  
She moved fluidly like water, the way he wanted her to, until she reached the very last step. The toe of one of the expensive Western boots she wore for him as he asked caught on the curve of the step and Kaoru tripped a bit, managing to get her balance before she completely tumbled down. But still...  
  
She had tripped.  
  
Derekai's eyes sharpened in tough scrutiny. One. Every single mistake in grace counted for two beatings later. Where – and how – he chose to do so was no one's business but his own. And Kaoru, as normal, would accept it with the grace he had been working to instill in her for years.  
  
"Hello," she said, doing her best to curtsy as she had been trained. "How was your day?"  
  
"Tiring, dear. I met Mr. Totoshi from Okayama today. He is a shrewd man." He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, knowing she went rigid out of total respect for him. Derekai smiled. "That's why I'm looking forward to a relaxing night with you. Are you looking forward to the festival?"  
  
Kaoru nodded, meaning it. In public, her husband was less harsh; he didn't dare make a scene among large crowds. The cherry blossom festival, the first festival of the summer, was the only citywide event the Takedas attended every year. Otherwise, Kaoru was locked inside the mansion with the exception of the painfully boring parties Derekai forced her to go with him to. So this night was one where she was actually allowed to spend some brief casual time with Sanosuke, Megumi, and Yahiko, outside of the training hall.  
  
But even the time she spent at the dojo was drawing to a close, Kaoru knew. Derekai would never permit her to do it for as long as she was at least forty.  
  
"That's good," Derekai said, "because I've brought the kimono for this year's."  
  
Kaoru watched as he opened the box on the dining room table and held up the dark blue silk with pink cherry blossoms printed over it.  
  
"It matches your eyes," Derekai smiled. "And it will show off your skin. It will make people see that I have the second most-beautiful woman in Japan. I'm afraid my father made the most beautiful one his whore many years ago, and you say she's to marry that Sagara ruffian, so you're the best I can get." He set a hand on her shoulder and appreciated how easily she submitted as she slackened. "Isn't that right?"  
  
"Yes," she whispered. She was second, and that was fine. To her, Derekai was also second and always would be. But she would let him think otherwise.  
  
"Well then, let's get changed. But first..." Derekai palmed her chin and fastened his lips to hers, slipping his tongue between them and plundering as he chose to. When he pulled away, he smiled at Kaoru's closed eyes, thinking that there was bliss behind them instead of pain. "I can feel that something is going to be different this year, my love. For both of us." With a hard hand, he gripped Kaoru's right breast and squeezed in a way that he thought of as cherishing. What it was, however, was confining, and Kaoru counted just one more bruise.  
  
But she agreed silently. Something would be different.  
  
---  
  
"Well, Megumi, this is..." Yahiko pressed his lips together as he searched for a word that would work for what it was he wanted to express. At sixteen, he wasn't the smart-assed brat anymore. "Unique," he finished.  
  
"I think so too." Megumi smiled sweetly at Kenshin. "You think so, too, don't you, Ken?"  
  
"Oh...yes." A little pale, Kenshin stroked a hand over his hair. "Are you sure it comes out?"  
  
"I'm a doctor, Kenshin. I have to be sure." She smacked his hand down. "Don't keep touching it, it'll come off on your hand and how suspicious will that look?"  
  
Misao giggled. "I don't mean to be a pain, but your mustache is crooked. Here." Reaching up, she straightened the bushy imitation for him. "Okay, good. Now, here it goes. Aoshi went to Saito already to explain Kenshin's disguise so he can keep the police off Mister Kotada here. He'll meet us at the festival."  
  
"Excellent. Dr. Gensai already left with the girls. I'm going to introduce you to Derekai, Kenshin. And don't forget," Sano added, "you can't go crazy on this guy until we have him in the alley."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Megumi scolded her fiancée. "All I said is that I have reason to believe is Derekai is hurting Kaoru in a way that's considered wrong even in Japan."  
  
"Yeah, and that reason has to be the cuts and bruises all over her," growled out Yahiko. "She's been to your office loads of times, Megumi."  
  
"Yeah, and more than that, Saito has tried to get the bastard, but Derekai's base is that it's a fucking 'discipline'," grunted Sano. "I wanna get him, Megumi. Not just for Kenshin, but for Kaoru, damn it."  
  
"I know, Sano. Easy, Kenshin," Megumi said. "Stay calm for now."  
  
The amber in Kenshin's eyes slowly reverted back to purple. "I will. But how long has this been going on?"  
  
"Since the day she put on the marriage paint," put in Yahiko. "And like Sano, I want it stopped. She's a good woman. She taught me!"  
  
Kenshin thought of Hiko, knowing the bond between teacher and student. He'd never really liked Seijuro Hiko, but he respected his master. Yahiko both respected and loved Kaoru.  
  
He swiped at his hair and mustache again, earning another glare from Kaoru. With a sigh, he tugged at the western-style suit that he was borrowing from one of Megumi's richer patients and reluctantly donned the western hat, which his topknotted hair was tuck into. The only metal he wore was a pocketwatch that he couldn't read because of the Roman numerals.  
  
Megumi was grim now and she turned to Misao, dressed in her green kimono. Misao thought it odd that the last time she had put this thing on it had been to honor her friend's death. Now she was wearing it to go to a festival with that friend, who wasn't dead after all. Okina was going to freak when he found out.  
  
But she put on a smile; she always had been the cheerful one and she figured she might as well not break tradition. "Let's go then, everybody."  
  
They followed her wide gait with calmer strides. As they walked, Kenshin watched Yahiko from the side, studying his profile. The stubborn ten-year- old he'd known six years ago and developed into a serious, courageous teenager. The broadness of his shoulders and muscle Kenshin could see just in his steps proved he had undertaken the most intense part of Kaoru's training and had passed.  
  
Kenshin suddenly felt sad he had missed that. He did regret leaving Tokyo for, of course, allowing Kaoru to suffer as he had. But he'd needed to get away and recover. Then, when he had left Hirokini's, he had heard of a rich heir living grandly in Tokyo. He'd heard the rumor of his wife, supposed to be a previously touch, tomboyish woman who was now feminine in whatever her husband wished her to be.  
  
And he had been lost. Whether it would be his "killer" or not, Kenshin had feared that Kaoru had given up on him after only a month, and as he had done with the death of Tomoe, he had decided to wander again. He had been four years short of that time on the roads of Japan, but then he had sort of accidentally come back to Tokyo. He'd started to think about Kaoru again, of her strength, of her tears, of her smile...and his feet had led him back to the place he wanted to be at.  
  
But he'd been right; Kaoru hadn't waited for him. He had admittedly been a little relieved to hear that it hadn't been her choice, but the question was still there. Would she have waited if he went off for six years?  
  
"Wait, wait!" Yahiko hissed suddenly, and they all halted to a dead stop in an alley. "We can't turn here yet." He hurried to the front of the procession and poked his head around the corner, then snapped back and pressed against the wall.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sanosuke asked.  
  
Yahiko grinned, mischief alighting in his eyes. "It'd be mean if we went out just now. Suzume's meeting Shiro out there right now."  
  
There was a chorus of quiet "Ohhhh's" from the group, but Kenshin blinked. "Miss Suzume is meeting...?"  
  
"A boy," Misao giggled. "I think he's one of Kaoru and Yahiko's students."  
  
"Shiro Yamate. Nice kid," Yahiko affirmed. "A little shy, which is perfect for Suzume. He's, ah...trustworthy."  
  
"Well," chortled Sano, "that's really good to know."  
  
"They're gone now," announced Megumi as she watched the thirteen year-olds wander off to the lantern-lit area beyond the grove of cherry blossom trees. "Let's go."  
  
---  
  
Kaoru kept her steps small, her hands tight against the skirt of her kimono, and her face down. If there was anything she trusted Derekai about, it was to make sue she didn't bump into anyone. But if she did at anytime throughout the evening, it would not be Derekai's fault, of course, not with his hand against in back with his fingers digging into her flesh. Any mistakes either of them made were entirely blamed on the lower figure, the wife.  
  
Derekai did not like it when Kaoru made mistakes. And he showed her that every night.  
  
But it seemed no mistakes would be made just yet. Feeling a particularly painful pinch, Kaoru stopped and glanced up into the smiling faces of Sanosuke Sagara and Megumi Takani.  
  
"Ah," Derekai said grandly. "Mr. Sagara." His eyes sharpened as he turned his gaze to Megumi. "Miss Takani."  
  
"Mr. Takeda, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine," Sano said to Derekai, putting in a champion effort to keep from snarling.  
  
Derekai smiled smugly, ready to brush him off. "I don't invest in any gambling profits, Sagara."  
  
"Well then," Sano said hurriedly, hating the filthy bastard, "it's a good thing he detests gambling." He stepped back and revealed Kenshin. "This is Jeisuro Kotada, from Ako. He's visiting Tokyo for the festivals. This, Kotada, is the young Derekai Takeda."  
  
Kenshin didn't even meet Derekai's eyes; his focus was completely on the slender woman next to the rich man. She looked the same as she always had, with a slight complexion difference. She was paler. She stood straighter. But her head was bowed, and he couldn't see her face. But he could see that her dark black hair was the same as always, if a little longer. She was still stunning.  
  
Forcing his gaze to Derekai, he smiled at the sickly-looking man who was the spitting image of Kanriyu. "Takeda-san."  
  
"Mr. Takeda, if you please. I am a Westernized man. Kotada, is it? Are you are businessman?"  
  
Kenshin's smile widened. "I believe we all have our business, Mr. Takeda." He bowed slightly, his eyes staying on Derekai's. "I know of a Takeda that lived here about seven years ago. Was he a relation of yours?"  
  
Derekai stiffened and his smile faltered for a moment. "He was my father, actually. May I buy you some tea, Kotada, as a welcome to Tokyo?"  
  
"No." Kenshin quickly added, "Thank you, but I prefer sake."  
  
"A man that drinks." Takeda looked generally pleased now. "A man with spirit, no doubt. Ah, Captain Saito." He looked beyond Kenshin and into blazing black eyes. "What brings you to the festival?"  
  
Saito's eyes darted to "Kotada", scanned the disguise and saw through it instantly. Well, if that was the best Himura could do then so be it. He had been gone six years, after all. "Should I not be permitted to enjoy myself, Takeda?"  
  
"Nonsense," Derekai corrected. "I simply meant that we don't want our police force getting lax, now do we?"  
  
Saito's eyesbrows lowered. "Indeed. I see you've met the newcomer. Greetings, Mrs. Takeda."  
  
Kaoru's eyes fluttered up. She sent a brief look at Kenshin and paused. Kenshin sucked in a breath. Her eyes, he thought. Those eyes weren't Kaoru's.  
  
Then the two blue orbs switched to Saito, and she bowed. "Captain Saito," she murmured.  
  
Saito wanted to sigh. Whatever Himura was planning would surely be tiresome and tragic to put in motion. Damned Takeda. "Enjoy the festival," he said simply and moved away.  
  
"I believe we will," said Derekai cheerfully. His froze for a moment, then smiled at Kenshin again. "Excuse me. Mr. Kotada, can I ask you to escort my wife, Kaoru, for a little while? I see a person I must, ah..." His eyes slid to the woman with the heavy makeup again. "Meet with."  
  
Kenshin's throat tightened, but he opened it enough to reply. "Certainly, Mr. Takeda."  
  
"My deep thanks. Mr. Sagara," he nodded, ignoring Megumi.  
  
"Goodbye," Sano said, fisting a hand in his pocket. He leaned over to Megumi as Derekai hurried off. "If I broke his skull, how good are the odds that he'd die and— Oh."  
  
Kaoru was now looking at Kenshin with a wide and curious expression. Kenshin watched her in return, just as intensely. A light sheen of sweat  
  
Why, Kaoru wondered. Why in the world would this stranger have eyes like Kenshin's? No one she had ever met had those same eyes; the violet-blue of them was so entirely rare, especially in Japan. And his smile, the lines of his face...  
  
No. She was dreaming again, Kaoru thought firmly. Some people just looked alike by coincidence. There was absolutely no way...  
  
"Shall we go then, Mrs. Takeda?" he asked.  
  
She almost flinched, because it sounded so much like Kenshin using that name for her. The voice was even like his, but she couldn't be sure...  
  
No! Kenshin was not the one speaking because he wasn't even the one living! For her life, she had to forget that man, because if she didn't, Derekai would eventually know. Somehow, he would know.  
  
Please, she thought, allowing Kotada to take her arm and lead her forward with Sanosuke and Megumi. Please let him stop haunting her. She had been able to ignore the dreams, the spontaneous memories, the thoughts of him that refused to release her.  
  
She was certain she could not ignore the eyes and the smile of this man.  
  
And, as always, there was a part of her that didn't want to.  
  
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There's five! Please review, as this is a major turning point in the story, and I'm not entirely show what I'm going to do next. Let me know how this is doing so far! 


	7. Smooth

Friends, this is fic is giving me a LOT of trouble. I'm very uncertain about what direction it is destined to go in right now. I know the updates are slow, but please be patient with me. I'm doing the very best I can, and if it starts to frustrate you, please remember that it takes a while to make chapters the best they can possibly be. Thanks to those of you who have stuck with it since last year!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuke.

Doozy chapter.

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Now That You've Returned  Chapter Six

By Gundam Girl

There was always something about festivals that warped the senses.  Colorful kimonos and a dark sky confused all sight, smells of food both healthy and not tantalized the stomach, an endless buzz of conversation and music swamped a pair of ears, and an arid night or a chilly one could ripple along the skin.

Kaoru experienced all of it and felt a little dizzy.  Derekai's treatment of her had made her inevitably delicate.  Sometimes, if she allowed her to think of it, she could recall the festivals she had gone to before her marriage.  She had reveled in the excitement, had never been exhausted from it.

Tonight, at least, exhaustion was absent.  She felt keenly alert, more so than she had in years.  The brief contact of her fingers lightly rested on Jeisuro Kotada's forearm sent points of wariness spearing through her.  It was simpler when Derekai escorted her; the woman in traditional dress and the man in Western-style clothing was becoming a more familiar sight in Tokyo.  It signified money, something that was admired whether you stood in Japan or on the other side of the world.

She kept her head down and watched Kotada's shiny black shoes so that she could follow them with her own sandal-clad feet.  Was it her imagination, she mused, or did her escort seem uncomfortable in his suit and other non-Asian garments?  Perhaps he was just disliking his lack of familiarity now that he was in a town not his own.  Kenshin had taken a little while to get used to large groups of people again as well…

God!  His hair was black! _Black_!  That alone should have been enough to restrain any thoughts of Kenshin whatsoever when looking at Kotada.  It was maddening, or would have been if she could go any less sane.  She had been thinking about the red-haired samurai more in mere hours than she ever had in six months.  Perhaps Kaoru's behavior had been triggered by seeing Aoshi and Misaou.  Kaoru wished there was a logical answer for these types of situations…

She was beautiful.  Pale, sad-eyed, and fatigued, Kenshin thought – but beautiful.  She always had been.  Always would be.  But the emotions, or maybe lack thereof, that Kenshin could sense inside her made him feel an invisible fist curl around his heart.

"Have you and Mr. Takeda been married long, Mrs. Takeda?"

Kaoru flinched, but only Kenshin noticed it.  "Six years," she murmured.  "And you may call me Kaoru, sir."

"Kaoru-san, then."  He longed to refer to the _dono _honorific he had always used, but he could not.  It was too risky.  Kenshin set his mouth into a firm line.  "Six years.  You must be a very happy woman."

Her only emotional response to that was to blink rapidly.  "I am expected to be content."

"Expectations can be misplaced."  _Shut up_, he told himself.  _Not yet.  You can't speak to her like this yet._

"Perhaps," she answered in a whisper.  "But what I have I must be grateful for."  She looked back over her shoulder, saw Sano and Megumi smile at her, but she also saw Derekai pull the geisha-like woman behind a food stand to carry on their business hidden.

"As must we all," Megumi put in from behind.  She squeezed Sano's hand and shot Kenshin a worried look.  Kenshin only cleared his throat and smiled.  "Is anyone hungry?"

"Let's go to the Akabeko," suggested Megumi.  "I'm sure Dere…ah…Takeda-sama can meet up with us later.  And Kotada-san has never been to Tae-san's restaurant before."  Releasing her fiancee's hand, she discreetly nudged Kenshin away and motioned behind her back for him to walk with Sanosuke.  "Kaoru-san, did you pick out your kimono?" she asked conversationally as they headed for the Akabeko, knowing that Derekai gave her no choices.

"How's it look, buddy?" whispered Sano, tilting his head down so Kenshin could hear him well.

"She doesn't recognize me."  Kenshin didn't know for certain if he was relieved or hurt by this.

"Okay.  Neither did Takeda.  Dammit."  Sano clenched a fist.  "You sure you don't want me to just kick his ass?"

"Yes.  Sano, I have no money," said Kenshin.  "How were we going to pass me off as a businessman again?"

"Don't worry about it, I've got enough.  I'll pay for the jerk too, once he gets back from betraying his wife."  Sano smirked.  "It'll be on the ruffian."

Whispered Megumi to Kaoru, "How do you find Kotada-sama?"

"He seems nice," answered Kaoru honestly, but shortly.  Megumi frowned.

"How," she asked instead, "do you find yourself?"

Kaoru wanted to sigh.  Megumi was always concerned for her.  So was Sano.  But that truth was, she thought wryly, there was no longer a person to be concerned about.  She had stopped feeling human years again.  She could fault Derekai for that by treating her as he did, or she could fault herself for letting him.

Either way, she felt nothing.  No jealousy for Derekai's unfaithfulness, no warmth in response to Sanosuke and Megumi's kindness, not even very much fondness at the memories of Kenshin that  Kotada seemed to bring up.  She was that detached now.

"Kaoru-san!"

The four of them stopped walking as Yahiko and Tsubame joined up with them, followed by Misao and Aoshi.  "Going to dinner?" the ruby-eyed youth asked.  "Care if we join you?"

Sansokue shrugged.  "I can't pay for you all."

"We have money," Misao said to him.  Aoshi nodded once.

"It's on me," Yahiko said to Tsubame as they continued on their way.

"Are you sure?" Tsubame's quiet voice said.  "I can…"

"Don't worry about it."

When they all entered the Akabeko minutes later, Tae was bubbling with excitement.  "I love the festivals," she announced.  "I get so many customers, and I get to see so many friends.  Follow me, I'll find you a large table.  Hi, Tsubame!"

The two co-workers chattered briefly as they all sat at a round table on the provided pillows.  

"I should probably go find Derekai," Kaoru murmured.  "He won't like that I came in here without his permission."  He would scold her, she knew, but it might save her from a bout of harsh abuse from the evening.  If he had enough sake, he might get too drunk to do anything to her.  But such was a hope that would probably be best if put down now.

"His permission," repeated Kenshin, his tongue deliberately tense. 

"He just likes to know where I am," she began, automatically defending Derekai's name as he always demanded she do.

"I have no doubt," he replied.  Suddenly uncomfortable again, he turned to Sano.

"Uhhhhh," said the tall fist-fighter, "Tsubame, you haven't met Kotada-san, right?"

"I'll introduce you," Yahiko said, standing up and offering his hand to Tsubame so she could do the same.  "Kotada-san."  He felt bad that he couldn't use his old mentor's real name, but he had to play the game they were using to help Kaoru.  "I would like you to meet Tsubame, my fiancée."

"WHAT?!" blurted Sano.  There would be no stunned silences for this group, save two.

"You're _engaged_?" Megumi exclaimed.  "Well, why…  Why didn't you give us some warning?"

"Seven years of close friendship and admiration isn't warning enough?" giggled Tsubame.  She turned to Kenshin and bowed.  "It's wonderful to meet you, Kotada, san."

"Likewise, the future Miyojin-dono," Kenshin smiled.  One way or another, when he was Himura again, he would have to talk to Tsubame again and tell her embarrassing stories about Yahiko.

Tsubame blushed prettily, as Kaoru looked at them with something close to wonder.  Her pupil, her brother-like friend, was going to be married.  It wouldn't be for two more years of course, but there was nothing wrong with claiming a girl early.

The good moment was ruined when the Akebeko door was suddenly shoved open.  Turning, everyone saw Derekai storm in and approach Kaoru.  His hair was mussed, there was a powder stain on his tie, which was wrinkled horribly.

He stretched out a pale, bony hair and gripped her chin, pinching the skin and forcing her lips to purse as his angry face went very near to hers.  "Did I tell you to come here?  Did I say you could?"

"Derekai," she whispered, her blue eyes wide.  "Please—not here…"

"Then where?!" he demanded.  "Am I only to control you at home?  Am I to let you roam free out in public?  You are my _wife_, you wench!  You listen to _me_!"

Kenshin had a hand reaching for the hilt of his sword, but alas, it was not to be found in the pocket of his damnable suit.  He felt a hand on his wrist and he whirled on Megumi, mouth silent, but Megumi withdrew her grip at the glow of his burning amber eyes.

Before anyone could do or say anything rash, the quiet voice of Aoshi came up like a soft wind.  "Mr. Takeda, we were just going to eat.  Would you care to join us?"  Only Misao noticed his tight fists, which rested on top of his folded legs.

Derekai's head snapped up to look at him.  "Why would you want to eat with me, Shinomori-_san_?" he snarled.  "Surely you resent me."

"I resented a Takeda once," Aoshi lied (for it would be surely a lie to say he did not dislike this Takeda as well), "but my quarrel was with the father, not the son."  

Derekai was still a boy, but he was smart to understand when to be civil.  "I understand."

"Then surely," Aoshi continued, "you understand it would be rude to turn down Sagara-san's offer to buying a meal for you and your wife."

Derekai's eyes flicked to Sanosuke, and Sano nodded, his eyebrows arched.  "I see," he said mildly.  "I suppose it will be good for Kaoru to see some old friends.  And of course, for both of us, to meet someone new."  He nodded to Kenshin.

"Indeed," Kenshin said sharply.

"Well then," Misao said loudly.  "It's decided.  Join us, Takeda-san."  Her fingers itched for her daggers.

"Very…well."  Still miffed, Derekai gave Kaoru a hard shove as he sat down.  Kenshin had to close his eyes and wait for his blood to cool.  Then Derekai laughed and smiled at "Kotada."  "We have to keep our women in line, of course, Mr. Kotada."

His eyes narrowed against his role.  "Of course, Mr. Takeda."  His glanced at Kaoru; her head was faced downwards and she kept it that way throughout the rest of the night, as they shared two hot pots and the others tried to keep amiable conversation with Derekai.

When they all emerged and the festival was starting to wind down, Sano took Megumi's hand.  "That was a disaster," she murmured.

"At least Yahiko had some good news," Sano offered, but he too was dejected.

"Nothing is good in this city," Megumi seethed, "as long as that little bastard lives here."

Derekai was fuming himself, but with he couldn't afford to direct _all _his rage on Kaoru when they got home.  The marks, he was sure, would be permanent.  And he was feeling too drunk to focus the way he needed to.  It was still before one, he thought as he looked at his watch.  Kyoko would still be around.  If he looked in the right place…

"Kotada," he called out before Kenshin could walk away.

Kenshin stopped and took a deep breath before turning to give him a cool smile.  "Takeda?"

"I have urgent business that I just remember."  Gripping Kaoru's forearm, he half-pushed her at the mustached man.  "Would you mind taking my wife home for me?  She can tell you the way." 

"I…"  Kenshin paused.  "I don't know if—"

"You are a businessman, Kotada.  You understand urgencies."

"Yes, but—"    

"Thank you!"  The man sounded sincere, for one who was such a dislikeable person.  Placing Kaoru's hand hurriedly in Kenshin, he practically ran off in search of his favorite street whore.

Sometimes, Buddha was not on your side.  Kenshin quickly released Kaoru hand and instead held his own outward.  He smiled at her, but it was warily.  He would rather face Shishio again than have to look into the ghost-like eyes of this emotionless Kaoru.  "Shall we go then?"

"My house is this way," Kaoru said softly, walking to the left.  She waited for him to walk in front of her.  He did, and she clenched her fingers together against the skirt of her kimono.  "Thank you, Kotada-san."

"It isn't a problem, Kaoru-san."  _Except for that I'm nervous, and frightened of being with you.  _"I will believe your home is beautiful."

"It is."  Her tone was soft and revealed nothing; not how much she despised the house Derekai expected her to call home, how she hated every moment she was there. 

"Why are you not open to conversation, Kaoru-san?"  Kenshin slowed his steps so that they were side-by-side, walking beneath the starry Tokyo sky.  "A woman of few words, perhaps?"

That made the corner's of her mouth soften.  She could faintly recall the days when she spoke 8,000 words a day.  Now she spoke 300 at most.  "A woman is preferred silent, is she not?"

"Depends on the man."  He nearly muttered it, and his eyes flashed amber again, but Kaoru's eyes were downcast and did not see.  "I prefer a woman of high spirit."

"You should speak further with Tae-san."

He laughed; he had to.  The suggestion was so outrageous.  But then he noticed Kaoru's tense posture.  "I'm sorry.  I'm not laughing at you.  But I do not think I would be compatible with Tae-san."  He became serious again.  He had only been compatible with two women in his life, and the second one had been stolen from him by a psychopathic boy. 

Kaoru could hardly believe her ears.  With every word, and now, his laughing, Jeisuro Kotada sounded more and more like Kenshin.  "This is my house," she said suddenly when they came to a gate.  In her confused state of mind, they had almost passed it.

Kenshin looked up at the stately white house with its Victorian style.  "It _is _beautiful," he remarked.  He had to smile.  "A beautiful sheltering for a beautiful wife."

She inhaled sharply, her knuckled going white.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru-san," Kenshin told her hurriedly.  "That is not in my place to say."

"I will dismiss it.  Mr. Kotada—"

"Kotada-san is fine."

"Kotada-san," she corrected.  She hesitated.  Could she be so bold as to…?  But she _had _to.  "Did you ever know a Kenshin Himura?"

He froze.  Nothing could have prepared him for this.  What would summon up _that _question?  To her, Kenshin Himura was dead and had been for six years.  What could he say?  What could he _do_?

And then…  _Why not_?

"Kaoru-san?"

His tone effected her more than she cared it to.  "Yes?"

"Do you have a cloth I could use?"  Kenshin watched as a line appeared between her eyebrows. 

"A cloth?  A washing cloth?" she specified.

"A damp one," he nodded.  "May I come in?"

Kaoru gripped the gate.  "I'm…  I don't believe my husband would agree with—"

"Just for a moment," Kenshin said.  He was so calm he surprised himself.

She studied him.  He didn't look dangerous, but of course, neither did Kenshin when they first met, and he had ended up being the strongest samurai in Japan.

But his eyes sought trust, and though there wasn't much of that left in her, she felt like she needed to prove to herself that there was still _something_…

"Very well," she replied, opening the gate for him and bowing her head.  "But you can not stay long, sir."

"I won't."  _I can't. _He couldn't bear to look into her face when it was so smooth without any feeling.

But chances were, it wouldn't stay smooth for long.

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Review please!


	8. Alive

Wow… I don't know who it was, but somebody nominated this fic for the Rurouni Kenshin Readers Choice Awards in the Best Drama category. Who was it?  Which one of you did it? Are you even going to tell me?! I'm so honored, and very flattered. I've never been nominated for anything like this before. I've never won an award or anything either. I hope it does go well, though. (The fic still needs to be seconded, however, so if any of you agree with the original person and would like to second it, I give you free reign to do so, as I have already accepted the nomination.) Thanks, guys!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or claim any of the characters or storyline. This cut off/continuation of the Kyoto arc is my own making.

Now That You've Returned – Chapter Seven

By Gundam Girl

"You could have married me, you know."

Derekai finished buttoning his shirt and chuckled.  "And just what good would that have done, Mimasaka?"

Mimasaka Toriu smiled.  She was the new legend among prostitutes; like the Yumi Komagata of Tokyo.  The difference was that she wasn't going to die under the wing of some mad bastard.  And she was too expensive for what Shishio Mokoto had paid; Derekai Takeda barely scraped up the cash.

"I would make a wonderful housewife," she laughed.  "An unfaithful one perhaps, but at least I would be more lively than your little mouse."

"Kaoru is reliable.  Her reputation as an honorable dojo master was very helpful to my own reputation as the much better son of Kanriyu Takeda."  That had been a feat, Derekai thought.  That damn Saito had been sniffing around on and off for years, and had finally let up just eight months ago.  That was another point for Kaoru; she kept quiet about things that didn't need to be discussed.  "But I have to admit, she can be a bit dull."

"Oh, I'm sure she serves your purposes."  Mimasaka made sure her kimono was on straight and that her hair was still dressed properly.  "What few you have."

"She doesn't do much.  House chores, besides cooking – she can't cook a bloody thing.  And of course…release."  He gave her a crooked, nearly sane smile.  "Just in a different way from you."

"No children?"  She chuckled.  "Of course not.  I can't see you with little mongrels running around."

"Kaoru wanted children."

"And now?"

"And she knows the routine if one pops up.  A trip to Megumi Takani's office for some tea and that is that."  Derekai brushed off his suit and cast a fond look around the brick alley where he had enjoyed his latest business with the valuable whore.  "I best be on home.  Of course, a quick game is required first."

"Onisuka's?"

"Who else to wager with on poker?" 

"I see. Goodnight then, Takeda-san," Mimasaka snickered.

With a lifted hand his goodbye, Derekai walked out of the dark alley back onto the lamp-lit street.  Kaoru, he mused, was probably in bed, already sleeping – ready for him when he came home.

---

Kaoru led Kenshin into the dark house, pausing to light a few lanterns on her way.  It was late enough for the couple servants to be asleep, so Derekai would never know that she had allowed Kotada-san inside. 

He hadn't answered her question, she mused.  Either he was ignoring it, or he really did not know Kenshin.  Either way, not replying was rude and, were she the same person she had been six years ago, she would have told him so.  But she kept her tongue still and showed him the way to the kitchen, where a small basin of clean water was kept at all times.

Reaching into a small drawer, Kaoru retried a square cotton cloth and held it out to him.  "Here, Kotada-san."

Kenshin watched her for a moment.  Her eyes were so blank.  Where that was because she was confused at why he would ask the favor he had or she was just completely empty inside, he wasn't sure.  Perhaps it was both.  That seemed the most likely somehow.  Deftly, he took the cloth from her hand.

Their fingers whispered together, and he did not see Kaoru close her eyes, savoring that small touch.  He did see the small tremor rack her shoulders when she popped her eyes open again, aghast at her behavior.  "Thank you, Kaoru-do…san."  _Watch it, Himura_, he told himself, biting his teeth together.  _That's a mistake you can't afford to make.  Not yet, you cannot._

"It is nothing."  She bowed her head and moved away from the basin.  She hadn't noticed his tiny blunder.  "Do you wish me to leave?"

His black-painted eyebrows narrowed, and he grew warm.  "No, Kaoru-san.  Please stay."  His back to her, he dipped the wash cloth into the water.  Wringing it out, he pressed it over his top lip, soaked the imitation mustache, and peeled it off.  Shoving the thing in his pocket, he proceeded to take off his hat, and a foot and a half of black hair spilled out.  Wetting the rag again, he could feel the tenseness coming from Kaoru, but he just leaned over the basin and wrung water out on his head.  He could feel the dye slide down his hair onto his face and neck, staining the suit.  More of it came out in the basin.

But, Kenshin could see, his hair was definitely once more red, give or take a few dark blotches.  Straightening, he breathed deeply and turned.

Kaoru's eyes were wide, and they widened more still when his own eyes met them.  Her fingers covered her lips, and her cheeks were completely drained of any color whatsoever.  Thin perspiration dripped down her temple.

Kenshin knew shock when he saw it and, predicting it, he was there when Kaoru's knees buckled and she fell boneless into his arms.  But her eyes never left his face.

Her throat was so tight she didn't know if she would ever be able to say another word as long as she lived.  Thoughts swam through her mind like the largest school of fish; _Six years…killed…gone forever…murdered…making her alone…dead…  _But the only one that surfaced was the name of the man who haunted her dreams.

"Kenshin?"  She shook her head, denying it, even as he nodded.  "I'm…  Can you…"

His grip tightened around her.  "Hello, Kaoru-dono.  I'm back, that I am."

The feel of his arms around her robbed her of breath.  Every bit of logic Derekai had forced into her said that she was crazy; that the man before her could not possibly be Kenshin Himura, and that Kenshin Himura had died six years ago at the hands of the man that was no her husband.  An indefinable sound emerged from her, and suddenly every part of her tightened up.  "No."  Her voice was no louder than a whisper.  But she suddenly wrenched herself upward and away from him.  "No!" she shouted, the loudest her voice had been in more than half a decade.  "**_No_**!"

"Kaoru-dono," he murmured, feeling cold and warm at the same time.  He thought he might be ill.  "I know it is hard to believe, that I do."

"Hard to believe?!"  She nearly screeched, but she wasn't loud enough to wake any of the staff.  "Hard?  It's… It isn't even…  I'm insane!" she exclaimed finally.  "I've gone mad!  He's made me mad!"

Oddly, in that moment of sanity doubt, she sounded more like his Kaoru again.  Kenshin straightened her again but didn't release her; she wasn't stable yet.  "Kaoru-dono," he muttered, "this is the wanderer that you met almost eight years ago, that it is."

She pressed her lips together and asked, in a very meek voice, "How old is Kenshin Himura?"

He blinked.  "Thirty-six," he answered dutifully.

"How old am I?"

He paused, counting quickly in his mind.  "Twenty-seven."

Her heart beat faster.  "Then you're a ghost.  I _saw_ you die six years ago!"

"No, Kaoru-dono, you saw a pile of rocks, some blood and a piece of my gi."  His tone was soothing, but sharp enough to inflict reality.

She didn't know whether to laugh because she thought she was hallucinating, fear because Kenshin's ghost was in her house, or cry because it really was Kenshin holding her right now.

She chose the third.  Her hands curled into his slightly damp suit jacket, wetting the material further with big tears that rained down on his shoulder.  Her body trembled and didn't still when his fingers wrapped into her elegant bun, mangling the hairstyle. 

After what felt like another six years, Kaoru looked up, her eyes pink.  "Kenshin?" she whispered.  "How did you…  How could you?"

"I'm alive," he told her, rubbing her back comfortingly.  "Isn't that all that matters?"  His hand slid over to her elbow, and she suddenly hissed and arched.  He dropped his hand quickly.  "What is it?  Kaoru-dono?"

Kaoru's face was pale again.  "It's…nothing," she told him, lying badly.  "I bumped my arm earlier."  She couldn't believe she was making excuses to a living, breathing Kenshin Himura.

Suspicious, Kenshin held her wrist firmly but gently, and pulled up the long sleeve of the dark blue kimono.  Printed into her elbow like a tattoo was a reddish-purple hand.  A hand, Kenshin noted, just the size of Derekai Takeda's.

His eyes flashed up to hers, and they flickered like fire, golden and glittering.

"This," Kenshin said lowly, "is not nothing, Kaoru-dono.  And it's no bump.  He has hurt you."

A shiver coursed through her, and Kaoru pulled back her arm.  "But it really _is _nothing, Kenshin, compared to what else he's—"  Her own gasp cut her off.  What she tried to convince herself of every day had nearly spilled out.  And, she knew, if he was angered enough, he would sooner damage than debate. 

This time when Kenshin's eyes changed, they glowed.  No flickering.

---

"Thank you, Shiro."

Shiro Yamate blushed and released Suzume's hand.  "It wasn't anything special."

"Yes, it was," Suzume told him.  "I've never been to the festival with anyone but my grandfather and Ayame."

"They're nice people."

"They are."  She winced a bit.  "But Grandpa likes to embarrass me and Ayame's mouth to too big."  They laughed together and then she stepped back.  "Well…"  She cast a look over at Dr. Gensai's clinic, hoping her family wasn't watching.  "Goodnight."  She bowed slightly.

He bowed back, thankfully knowing he didn't look awkward.  He'd had to much sword training for that.  "Goodnight, Suzume."

She opened the gate and closed it behind her.  Giving him one last smile at the door, she stepped inside and was first greeted by Megumi.

"Suzume-chan, how was your evening?"  Though she could be a rotten teaser, Megumi knew when tact was necessary.  Playing with a little girls' feelings was irresponsible. 

"It was nice," Suzume told her.  "Shiro is very polite."

"That's wonderful."  She smiled, thinking of Sanosuke.  When was that man ever polite?  "Very wonderful," she added.  "Uh, Suzume, on your way home…"

"Yes?"  Suzume looked up after taking off her shoes. 

"Did you happen to see a black haired Japanese man in a black western suit?"  Megumi bit her lip nervously.  It had been nearly an hour, and Yahiko and Sano hadn't seen him either.  Surely he would return to the dojo.  As much as Megumi trusted Kenshin, she couldn't have a supposed long-dead man roaming Tokyo.  If he was discovered by anyone save for the ones that already knew of his return…  She didn't like to consider the chaos.  _Hitokiri Battousai is immortal!  _People would fear him forever.

Suzume tilted her head curiously.  "I didn't, since Japanese men don't usually wear suits at festival time."

"No."  Megum's breath caught, afraid for Kenshin.  "No, they don't."  She forced herself to smile.  "So now, your night with Shiro."  At Suzume's blush, she grinned.  "Sit down and tell me _everything_…"

---

Kenshin's eyes were closed, his back rigid.  It wasn't until Kaoru timidly set her hand on his shoulder that his eyes were violet again, something she was relieved about.

She was taking everything very well, he had to admit.  And he meant everything.  His "rise from the dead," and, apparently, Derekai's abuse.  How long had he treated her cruelly?  Since the day she had put on his wedding ring? 

He wouldn't question her about him, not right this second.  That would be going too fast.  No matter how well she was adjusting to his unbelievable revelation, he had no right to suddenly impose on every single part of her life so soon.

But her eyes were downcast again, just like at the festival and the Akabeko.

"Kaoru-dono."  He had to repeat her name before her head lifted again.  Kenshin wanted to grab her and shake her, shake back his forward, naturally impertinent Kaoru that he'd fallen in love with years ago.  "Can you tell me why?"

Her eyes fluttered and her grip on his arm tightened, but she spoke.  "Kenshin, didn't they tell you?  Yahiko was—"

"No."  Carefully, so careful about anything and everything, Kenshin set a hand against her cheek.  This time her eyes drifted closed, and he watched her inhale slowly.  "Why, Kaoru-dono?"

Kaoru's fingers continued to tremble; even with her fists clenched they wouldn't stop.  She was standing here, listening to Kenshin Himura speak to her again.  She was feeling him, an arm around her waist and a palm to her face.  He had lived.  He had once again escaped death. 

She realized with anguish that she had given up on him that day.  He deserved his answers.  Kaoru opened her eyes and looked directly into his, pulse jumping.

"That afternoon…we saw smoke.  And we ran to find you.  We saw the rocks, we saw Derekai…"  She felt his muscled tighten again at the name.  "Sanosuke yelled, and Yahiko tried to fight, put himself in danger for you because we all thought…we all _knew_…that you were dead."  More tears spilled down her face and over his fingers like tiny waves of emotion. 

"But even though they acted," she continued, "I…  I couldn't…  I couldn't do anything.  I couldn't move.  I couldn't say anything for a while.  All I could think of was 'Kenshin is gone.  He won't be with you anymore,' and I couldn't snap out of that.  And until tonight, Kenshin…"  Her hands left him and wrapped slowly around herself.  "Until tonight, I never _have _snapped out of it. 

"So then, when Derekai told us I would marry him or Yahiko would die, I agreed.  But the terrible, terrible thing is…"  She took a breath and, like her hands, it shook in her throat.  "I didn't even do it for Yahiko.  I did it because…'cause I thought that, without you, I could never do anything worthwhile again.  Even the dojo has suffered because you weren't with me, Kenshin, everything!"  Her calm face crumpled.  "Everything that was important to me stopped mattering because you were dead!"  She held up her battered arm.  "Even myself."

Kenshin stared at her with wide eyes.  She had sunk, he thought, like a ship in a storm.  She had drowned in her own waves of helplessness.  And it had been because he had left.  Because he had heard of a wealthy man and his sword-master of a wife and had, just the same as she, given up on her.

"Kaoru," he whispered.  "I didn't know.  I knew what Derekai had done, Sano and Yahiko told me.  But I would never have guessed—"

Suddenly, she pulled back away from him, half-stumbling out of his embrace.  "I loved you!" she exclaimed.  "I loved you so much I stopped functioning without you!  Every second of my life, every image I see in my sleep, all of them are filled with you!  You did that to me, Kenshin!"  Her voice weakened along with her stance.  "You tore me apart and I couldn't put myself back together again…"  Her lower lip trembled, and then she was gasping for air, trying to breathe through her crying.

"Oh God."  He came forward slowly.  He lifted his arms and, when she didn't resist, gather her into them.  "I destroyed you."  His hair fell over hers; red and black mingled like blood in the night. 

"No," she said.  "Just your death.  Or what I thought was your death.  But you're here."  Their eyes met and held.  "You're alive."

Kenshin brushed her hair back from her face, as all of it had fallen completely from the style.  "Kaoru, I'm so sorry."  His warm hand met hers, and it was cool like porcelain.  Her face was so close to his.  When her eyelids drooped a bit, he leaned down, waiting for—

There were footsteps just outside of the mansion.  Kenshin felt Kaoru go rigid in his arms.

"He's here," she told him in a low tone, color dropping away from her face again.  "You have to go."

"Kaoru!  I'm home!" Derekai's voice called in English.

"I'm not going to leave you with him," Kenshin whispered back.  "I won't."

"You have to!" she hissed.  "If he finds you here, he'll—"  The sound of a key slipping into a lock made her jump.  "Please, Kenshin!  Go!"

He searched her face.  It was white with panic.  He decided it would be best to save the confrontation – and her heart attack – for a little later.  "Meet me behind the Akabeko tomorrow night," he insisted.

"I don't think I…"

"Kaoru."  His hand tightened on hers, and she nodded, face blank.

"I will," she promised, squeezing his hand back.  "But go!  Out the back door!"

He made it to the doorway just as the front door opened in the first room.  "Tomorrow night, Kaoru."

"Yes.  Go!" she exclaimed softly.  And he disappeared just as Derekai came into the kitchen.

"Good evening, Kaoru."  He noted her untied hair and loose kimono, pleased that she was waiting for him.  "I'm sorry to keep you."

She made herself shake her head, though she had barely heard him over the beating of her own heart.  "I haven't been here long."  It was the truth.  It felt like Kenshin had only been there for a scarce few seconds.

"I'm glad."  He grinned.  "I'm going to go take a bath.  He patted the newly won money in his pocket.  Tonight had been a good game.  "Meet me in the bedroom?"

She nodded and watched him go out the same way Kenshin had.  Taking a deep breath, she leaned against the counter, and her forearm nudged the basin.

Kaoru realized as she emptied the bowl out of the window, that it had been pure luck that she had been standing in front of it, hiding the dye-stained water from Derekai's view.

Hiding that Kenshin Himura was alive.

---

Review please! And please vote for this fic as Best Drama at !


	9. Meeting

Hey, guys. Thanks for waiting, this chapter was annoying. I wanted to get it just right, and although I don't think it's as good as it could've been, I'm fairly satisfied with the results. Let me know, ok?

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and am making no profit from this fan story.

Now That You've Returned – Chapter Eight

By Gundam Girl

When Kenshin walked into the dojo again, he was met with a painful blast of memories and Sanosuke's scowling face.

The redhaired samurai smiled lightly. Dryly, he commented, "It's been many years since someone's waited up for me, that it has."

"Don't you joke about this, you ass-hole. Where the hell have you been?!" Sano's hands were fists straight down at his side. "I've been sitting here all goddamned night waiting for you to get back from doing Takeda's little favor." He paused to take in Kenshin's appearance, and his face suddenly paled. "Kenshin…why the fuck is your hair red again?"

Kenshin braced himself. "She knows, Sano. Kaoru-dono…I couldn't keep it from her anymore." His heart still ached with that expression of disbelief on her face.

"She _what_?" Sano's throat went dry in an instant and for a moment all he could do was make odd scoff-like noises. When he remembered the use of words, he flung out a hand. "So…you told her? You…just shocked her like that?!"

"She was shocked, yes," Kenshin murmured, sitting down and leaning against the wall. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the dojo and be pained by Kaoru's absence there. "It hurt me."

"You knew it would." Sano's eyes were fierce with raw protectiveness of his Missie.

"I knew it would," he acknowledged, "but not this much. I think I said some unfair things to her."

The much taller man snorted. "Coming back from the dead was unfair."

Kenshin kept quiet. Sano seemed content to glare in dissatisfaction, and he was not going to interrupt. He busied himself by peeling off the still partially damp suit jacket and hanging it on a nearby sword rack to dry.

"Just tell me something. What are you hoping to achieve, Kenshin? She's married now. She's unavailable. You can't just whiz her off from Takeda. That'll get you – and her – into more trouble than you already have to deal with."

"You think I don't know that?" he snapped. Sano's eyes widened a bit, and Kenshin relaxed the cord of unease that had built between his shoulder blades. "Forgive me, I did not mean to be coarse. But Sano, you are treating me as though I am a stranger toward a friend. I do not blame you for being guarded, however…I do not think I deserve to be warded against, that I do not." Kenshin shook his head. "That is what you're doing."

Sano's brown eyes shimmered a bit. "It's been six years, Kenshin. Things here have changed so much. When I watched that bastard take Jou-san home after the wedding ceremony, knowing what he was doing to her… It made all these walls go up in her defense. She took me in and accepted me even though I was freeloading. She's like my sister, and I've had to watch her be mistreated for these long years." His trusty right fist bunched up close to his side. "It hasn't gotten any easier. Do you have any idea what Takeda will do to her if he finds out about you? Are you willing to risk her safety like that?"

Kenshin met his strong gaze with one of his own. "Perhaps," he said softly, "you're misunderstanding my intentions, Sano. I am _not_—" as he spoke, his eyes flashed gold "—going to let him hurt Kaoru-dono again."

_What do you think he's doing to her now? _He forced himself to keep the words inside, and Sanosuke nearly bit his tongue. "What are you planning to do?" he asked instead. "I'm on your side, my friend."

The cross-scarred man lowered his eyes, and the heat faded from his body. "I know. It's just that…seeing her tonight left me feeling so helpless. But I'm not going to stay that way. I've asked her to meet me."

"Where?" he asked. "Here?"

"That would be too conspicuous, believe it or not. Megumi-dono told me that Kaoru-dono has a strict schedule, and she is allowed to be here only for the time of teaching. There is no extra time for her here. But I was told as well that she goes to the Akabeko every day for Takeda's dinner. Cooking dinner can vary in time, can it not?"

Sano nodded. "Akabeko? They'll see you. People on the street can't help but—"

"No one noticed me when I first arrived here again, and there were plenty of people about. I am safe, Sano. As far as I am aware, this plan is flawless." Kenshin hoped.

"Well? What about when you meet her? What will you do?"

Kenshin walked toward the door and slid it open. He wanted a bath, time to think about Kaoru and himself. About the current events. But he turned back to give Sagara a small smile. "I am going to let her remember that I love her, that I am."

"I'm leaving then." The next day, all of the eighteen servants in the Takeda house were lined in the entrance hall to see their master off. Derekai placed his hat on his head, which still ached from the alcohol of last night, and set a hand against Kaoru's waist. "Think of me today, my dear." And then he pressed his lips to hers in a way that seemed unkind.

This was the daily routine. Every morning before he left, Derekai told – ordered, really – Kaoru to think of him, as though reminding her that she was not to think of anyone else. Hundreds of times she had even managed to be convinced that he could hear her thoughts, such was his power over her, and she had been terrified of so much as remembering Kenshin's name.

Now, her fear was far greater, for she had not been able to stop seeing his eyes, the color of his hair, anything that had to do with him, since he had rinsed the dye from his hair and shown her whom he was. Her very soul trembled as she relented to Derekai's kiss.

As always, Derekai assumed she shivered with desire and smirked when he pulled away. "The night is never far," he murmured into her ear. He left the house with coarse male satisfaction. His personal rickshaw driver followed him, shutting the door.

"Ma'am, you look pale," a servant named Kakura said to Kaoru after a moment as the rest of the staff began to disperse, "shall I fix you some tea?" Everyone in the house adored their mistress and some directed looks at her that seemed ever sympathetic.

Kaoru smiled at Kakura. A long time ago, she had barely been above the older girl's status as a meager dojo owner. Now she was the Westernized lady of Derekai Takeda, and ever so much more important than the servant. "No, Kakura-san. Thank you."

Kakura bowed with intent to leave her alone, but Kaoru stopped her at the last second.

"Kakura-san, you can do something for me." Her lips were even whiter now as Kaoru pressed them together nervous. "Look in the very back of the storage shed outside. There is a black wooden box. Bring me its contents, please."

When Kakura left to do as she was asked, Kaoru pressed her fist to her chest against the delicate material of the American summer dress she wore. Ironic though it was, in the disguise of sorts she had planned, she was less likely to be recognized than if she wore the Western dresses Derekai demanded she wear.

It would be, Kaoru thought as she went to make tea for herself in Kakura's stead because she needed to do something with her hands to keep them from shaking like did, such a toll on her heart.

She would meet Kenshin, though. She would meet him and whatever memories he would give back to her with a high head and a strong will. Her mind raced; it was as though the gears that had shut down at Kenshin's "death" were being cranked back to work, slowly at first, but faster with more use.

She was just sitting down at the table in one of the chairs it had taken a very long time to get used to just as Kakura returned, dust spotting her servant's robe and her arms laden down.

"Here you are, Kaoru-sama." Kakura placed the requested items on the table and noted Kaoru's intention of not looking at them directly. "Please…tell me if this is not my place, but may I ask why you wanted these? Your others things are so much nicer."

Kaoru sipped her tea for a moment, little finger extended from the English teacup as she learned long ago, and lowered her eyes to stare into the soft green liquid. "I needed them," she said slowly, "to return to my past." Her eyes closed and tears shined on her lashes. "It will be a very, very long journey."

When Kenshin walked onto the Tokyo main street, dressed in his hooded cloak, school was just finishing for the day, and there were many children about, some of them so small he had to be not to step down. Two boys especially caught his attention. They were lower class, as was apparent by their clothes, and they had short sticks that they were using as make-believe swords.

A small smile came to his face. He had been like them once, long ago, before his parents had died and he had been caught by the slave-traders.

Then Seijuro Hiko had turned his fantasy into a reality that had caused him more pain than anything else in his life. Until now, perhaps. Kaoru's miserable eyes still haunted him with every breath.

He was shaken from his thoughts when a large group of tourists from what seemed like the town Yoroido (they all smelled of fish) passed him and he was knocked a bit. He scolded himself lightly for dreaming of things that he was, by God, going to correct.

Like the sun slipping behind the hills, he slipped behind the Akabeko. He felt a little guilty, doing something that was probably somewhat illegal now in a place where Tae, a friend, could get caught up in something she had nothing to with. But he did not fear such a thing as him getting caught. He had a reason for being here, he certainly did.

_What to do_, he pondered. Derekai Takeda—his hands clenched—would no doubt be prepared for just about anything. And although Kenshin was certain no man could predict the survival of a man he thought to have killed himself, a man with money like Takeda had could set up for defending against ghosts. Kanriyu had.

He leaned against the stone wall beyond the restaurant, and a warm breeze fluttered his cloak and peeled the hood back a bit.

That was when he first saw his Kaoru again.

She was dressed they way she had dressed when they used to go into town or on a trip when he had lived with her. Exactly the same; he recalled the yellow, flower-printed kimono and the purple ribbon—it wasn't the indigo one he had ruined in his battle with Jinei, but she hadn't tossed that out. She had kept it in a small box where she stored her futon every morning. Kenshin's heart pounded as he took in her high ponytail and the wooden sandals on her sock-covered feet.

She _looked _like his Kaoru, certainly. And like his Kaoru had, she did not receive very many looks, and those that did see her didn't seem to recognize her as the lady of the Takeda house. She looked like a simple girl.

But looks did not always tell full truth. For Kenshin knew that while the appearance of her could have flung time back to six years ago, the mentality of his Kaoru was not yet restored. In her mind, she was still Derekai's prisoner.

Depressing thoughts such as this clouded his mind as she approached slowly. Her crystalline eyes asked his identity, and he nodded, gesturing with his hand. They moved even further behind the restaurant until he felt they were invisible enough for him to lower his hood.

The breath backed up immediately in her lungs, and tears sprung to Kaoru's eyes before she could think of stopping them. It was still too much to see him there, knowing the first time in years that she wasn't just dreaming.

An apology was halfway up Kenshin's throat before she wiped her eyes and looked at him directly. He ached; before, whenever she would look at him, she would have a smile for him. She wasn't frowning now, but her expression wasn't cheery.

"Kenshin," she murmured – and didn't have anything else to say.

"How are you?" he half-blurted, and called himself a fool in the next instant. What a feeble question!

Kaoru rubbed her forearms as though she was cold, but the weather was warm. "I've been thinking of you all day." And yet she'd kept her word to Derekai, because she couldn't stop fearing him. "My hands won't stop shaking."

He stepped toward her and took them. Indeed, they were ice-cold and trembling between his own fingers. When she lowered her head, he tipped her chin up to meet her eyes. "Why are you afraid of me, Kaoru-dono? I'm no ghost."

Her eyes were sad. "No… But you've been haunting me for so many years. But Kenshin, just seeing you here… God help me, I feel so weak. But stronger too, like I could stop being weak again."

"You can," he urged her. "I'm going to help you. Kaoru-dono." Releasing one of her hands, he pressed his palm to her smooth cheek. "I'm going to take you from him. The man who's forced you to call him husband."

Kaoru seemed so startled by this that she jerked back and stared at him, face pale. "You want to…what?"

"I don't know exactly how to go about it," Kenshin admitted. "But I swear – I'll find a way. And when I do—"

"You don't know what you're saying." She let out a small laugh, but it was the laugh she used when she wanted Derekai to think she found him funny. Kenshin's heart sunk. "I can't escape him. You may be back from your grave, but I cannot come back from mine. I have to remain dead, Kenshin, by law and honor." Her voice cracked on the last word, as though she didn't really believe honor had anything to do with it. Perhaps she didn't.

"That's nonsense. It's _you. _It's _us._" He laughed as well because her tone made his nerves spark in equal measures of anger and desperation. He'd never felt like this before outside of battle. "When I was fighting Shishio, who do you think it was that helped me pull through alive?"

She didn't reply and closed her eyes, turning her face toward his hand so that the tip of her nose grazed his wrist. He felt her breath come out ragged.

"Well, it wasn't Sanosuke. Kaoru." He left of the honorific and her eyes flew open, wide, as though she was seeing him for the first time once more. "I love you. I'm not going to leave you to…" His brow furrowed a bit. "To beasts like him. I love Kaoru, the real Kaoru. He doesn't love at all, least of all the real you."

She sniffed a bit. "I've had to bear that every day."

He cursed inside his head. _Good, Himura, just wonderful. _Kenshin waited for his blood to cool, and his eyes softened again. "I'm sorry. Here." He waited only a moment before dragging her to him and partly crushing her to his chest. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do this for so many years?"

"Only as long as I've wanted you to," she replied, tears in her voice. Her hand came to slip over his shoulder and catch in his hair, tangling there. "How much is it to ask?" she said. "To have what you say be real? To have you finally release me?"

"Don't ask a thing, love." He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. Although she probably had bottles and bottles of perfume at her disposal, she wore only herself. And that was all he'd ever wanted. "I'm going to do it." He began to pull away but her grip on him tightened and he paused, his face inches away from hers. He could see the flecks of gold in her blue orbs, and warmth spread through him, gently but lightning-fast. "Kaoru…"

Her fingers were trailing over his neck, causing nerves to go haywire through him. She didn't seem to notice. "Kenshin… I've been treated so long like nothing."

He fought hatred and forced himself to be tender. "I never wanted that for you."

"I know. Please." Slowly, she rose on her toes and then her lips were to his like last night. His fingers dug into her involuntarily as the man inside him began to beg freedom. "I know a room upstairs," she murmured, nodding to the Akebeko. "No one uses it." She searched his eyes. "Show me." Her voice was a whisper as she pressed her lips to his neck where her fingers had been. "Show me what you did want for me."

Everything inside him ordered him to fight it and the desperation he knew was ruling her at that moment. But as he took her lips again, this time much less soothingly, he could only think of surrendering to her. Kenshin heard a slight whimper, and whether it was from her or himself, it was all he needed. In one, fluid moment, she was in his arms and they were walking to the back door of the Akabeko.

As they disappeared, another figure materialized, near to the place where they had been. He stood there for a moment, very quiet, speculative in a way. He seemed to be wondering just what he would do with himself now that he had seen what he had.

He grinned. He would become rich. That was the plan he liked the best.

Humming a little, he walked toward the office building that Derekai Takeda worked at, mulling over what the cost of his information should be, while up in the empty room of Tae's restaurant, too people who had been starved from each other for too long filled themselves.

Yoroido – a small fishing village. I'm reading "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden and decided to use it as a pretty much useless tidbit for this chapter.

Please review! We're drawing to the end, huh?


	10. Approaching Redemption

So we've come to chapter nine! I'm glad you guys are enjoying it, and I apologize for the long wait in the chapter, but I work on my fics in a cycle, and there's currently five fics in progress with one completed but needing revisions. Plus, I've been so busy in the last month that it would make your head spin. I hope you'll forgive me for the time it took.

Disclaimer: I don't own RK…I just don't. We speak no more of it, yes?

Now That You've Returned – Chapter Nine

By Gundam Girl

Kaoru's heart was still beating furiously, and she was fairly convinced that it would never regain a normal speed again. Kenshin's fingers were still twirling idly through her loose, tangled hair. With nothing between their bare skin, she could feel his rapid heartbeat, too.

He dropped a kiss to her shoulder; it was only one of the many places he'd paid homage to in the last hour. She had arched like an Aizu bow beneath him, and when they had both reached their last energies, she had cried out and sobbed for several minutes. There were still telltale stains on her cheeks from her tears.

"I'm sorry." It was the first thing he'd said to her since that had made their hasty way up to the empty room in the Akabeko and they had tumbled onto the sleeping mat together. He whispered the words in hopes of keeping the moment reverent. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

Kaoru shook her head, then shifted it to look at him. "It wasn't you." Her voice cracked just slightly, and she shuddered. Kenshin thought she might break down again. Knowing he wouldn't be able to bear it if she did, he embraced her carefully. "Is it…" She buried her face in his shoulder. "Is it supposed to be like that?"

The question startled him, and his hands jerked on her waist. "What do you mean?" he asked in return to her soft question. Anger flickered in him, and he forced it away, threatening the assassin not to come out. "Kaoru."

Her name from his mouth still brought a surge of emotion, and Kaoru fisted a hand in his scarlet hair. But her mind focused on memories of Derekai; his hands, harshly gripping in the dark, in the day – whenever he wanted, whatever he wanted. "Don't ask me too many questions, Kenshin," she pleaded desperately. "Please."

"I _am _asking you." But to hopefully gentle the hurt, he pressed his lips to hers. He could almost taste the pain inside of her. He wondered if she could taste the rage inside of him. "What has he done to you? And don't try to lie to me; I've seen the bruises. This is just confirmation," he told her. "I want to know how he did it."

She absently passed her fingers over her left thigh, recalling the grayish finger-shaped injury there. She also knew she had scars on the underside of her forearms and the small of her back, as tribute to Derekai's careless, well-manicured fingernails.

Kenshin raised his palm to her throat and lightly stroked her collar bone. There was a cut there that she winced at when he touched it. "First one. This?"

"I did it," she said defensively. "I cut myself."

He shook his head, his expression remaining neutral in his violet eyes. He might be upset, but not with her. And he would certainly keep from being impatient. "Don't evade me either. What did you cut yourself on, Kaoru?"

She pressed her lips together briefly, before taking a deep breath and looking away from him. "The headboard." At his confused look, she added, "Of his bed." Shame flooded her voice, added to quickly in her eyes as they welled up again. "He didn't know he hurt me."

And she probably thought that really made it better, Kenshin thought. How many times had she convinced herself that it wasn't as bad as her first instinct suspected? Too many times, he answered himself firmly. If Kenshin had any say in it…

It was time her pain ended.

He kissed her one more time, on her forehead, before standing up and retrieving his gi and hakama, which had been tossed haphazardly in the corner. With some shock, he remembered how he had simply thrown down his sakabatou to reach for Kaoru. Kenshin hadn't been able to do something as rash as that in the better half of twenty years.

As he dressed, she just sat there with the thin blanket he had tugged over them a few minutes ago pulled up to her chest. When Kenshin looked back, he stared. One of her hands clutched the blanket in a fist, while the other was pressed to the mat to right herself. Her ebony hair fell in light waves to where her waist curved. Her eyes were bright and blue as she met his gaze.

Kenshin's heart constricted, and he couldn't keep himself from one more question. "What are you thinking about, Kaoru?"

Kaoru seemed to shake herself from her reverie. She smiled a smile that may have been her first real one in six years, just a small upturn of lips. With just the slightest hesitance but the utmost honesty, she said, "I love you, Kenshin."

His heart relaxed, and he let out a breath that was not quite a sigh. Slowly, he picked up his sakabatou and strapped it to his hakama as he slid on his sandals. "I love you too." Just then, he saw the fear drop back into her eyes. He knew she was thinking of her husband – the husband, Kenshin thought wearily, that wasn't him. He lowered his hand, and she took it.

For just a moment, they stayed like that. Connected by hands and connected by hearts. The love between them rippled at their fingertips.

Kenshin kneeled then and smoothed the worried line from between her eyes. "I will free you from his power, Kaoru. You won't ever have to think of him again." He withdrew his hand from her face. "I swear it."

She didn't reply, merely stared at him, and he straightened. He moved toward the door, prepared to leave, prepared to do…something. For her. But her small, uncertain voice stopped him in the doorway.

"Is it really even possible?"

He turned back. She was standing, nearly naked, with nothing but the blanket covering the important places. Her expression was so hopeful, so ready for what he was offering her. Kenshin wanted to give it to her, but he couldn't. Not yet.

"If you believe it isn't," he said to her, "then no. Just believe in me, Kaoru." He smiled. "Like you always have."

Then he was gone, racing down the stairs with his energy rejuvenated. Kaoru stared at the opened door. Practical thoughts such as dressing as returning to the manor began to seep into her mind, but Kaoru remained as she was for just a moment longer. She wanted to imagine that her life was truly like this, with Kenshin such a major part of it.

_Believe in me like you always have._

One tear slipped down her face as, in the window behind her, the sun set and cast her in an amber glow that was so much like her lover's eyes.

---

Megumi met with Sano outside the Kamiya dojo at sundown. Her fiancée face was heavy with worry.

"He's been gone for hours," Sanosuke admitted worriedly. He hated that they had to treat Kenshin as though he was some sort of beloved dog without a leash, but Tokyo was such a dangerous city for him to be in right now. If the patrolling police caught sight of his sword, without Saito's previous warning, he would be exposed instantly, and rumors would fly straight into Takeda's ears. "Has he stopped at Dr. Gensai's?"

"No," Megumi replied, her sharp eyes lowered in her concern. "And Tai hasn't seen anyone unusual at the Akabeko either. It's so hard keeping this from her. It's not like she'd _tell _anyone—" She cut herself off at Sano's hard look. "But we'll not take any chances. I know."

"What we don't know is where the hell that guy got off to," Sanosuke growled out. "I'd go ask Yahiko to help us look for him, but he's with Tsubame. If we cut into the time he usually spends with her, I'm afraid suspicions would be easily roused. It might be best if we just wait here."

"Wait? How can you say we should wait when he's out and about practically groping in the dark for his death certificate? Sano, could he be with Kaoru?" The only reason Megumi didn't throw herself into hysterics was because, as a doctor, she'd had much practice in the ability of staying calm in stressful situations.

"Of course he could. But Kaoru can't be with him because she has to have dinner on the table for Takeda by this hour. And since I wouldn't suppose they've risked letting on who he is yet," he added, "Kaoru's probably still following the house rules."

Megumi looked stunned. "Does he even have a plan? Or is he just going to burst in to Derekai one day swinging his sword?"

"Who knows? The guy's a walking mass of feelings. He can let out whatever one he wants to at whatever time." His mouth smiled fractionally. "The problem is figuring out which one that'll be."

"Don't kid around, Sano." Megumi scratched nervously at the back of her hand. "I think I'd die if anything happened to him."

"Don't do that," he said, he tone more serious now. "You'll miss the wedding."

Megumi didn't berate him this time; the joke was too dry. Her eyes softened when she looked up and saw the hard planes of his face. She gently lifted one palm and smoothed it over his lean right cheek. "I won't leave you, Sanosuke."

Sano's features slackened again, but there was a light in his eye that wasn't happy. Before Megumi could intepret it, she found herself pressed to his muscled chest. "You better not," he murmured to her, his chin resting atop her black-haired head. "I'd be so mad at you, Fox Lady." This must be it, Sano thought. This must be what Kenshin felt when he had to see Kaoru walk with Derekai, knowing that the woman he loved was being hurt by a psychopath. An undeniable need to protect, just like what Sano felt for Megumi at this very instant.

When will it end? The question materialized like a shadow on moonlight water. When did the Missie get to be happy again? And when she did, would it be with Kenshin.

Sano hoped to whatever god there was that the answer to that question was _yes_.

---

Whatever hope Sanosuke might have had for a _yes_, Derekai was more than willing to provide him with a _no_. That was what he was thinking of as he was signing the last of his paperwork for the day – how utterly amusing it was that he had kept Kaoru in his power for nearly seven years now. She forgot it every year, as Derekai was certain it mattered very little to her, but their wedding anniversary would hit the day after tomorrow.

Whether she gave it willingly or not, Derekai was expecting a very good present.

He had left his desk and was sliding on his suit jacket when the door to his office opened again. Mentally telling himself to give Hige, his secretary, a good reprimand, he looked to see who it was.

His face broke into a smile. Hige would be let off the hook this time. "Hello, welcome. It's been a while since I've been given a report from you."

"I don't think that would be much of a problem." His visitor's voice was slick as it joked, and Derekai recognized anticipation when he heard it. "You've most likely kept yourself busy with your other informants."

"Very true." Derekai clasped his hands together. "Well, what have you got for me. My, but you seem so excited."

Actually, the informant standing by his door didn't _look_ excited at all. But his voice was such a dead giveaway, and Derekai preferred to act as though he could read minds.

"I've got something quite interesting. The problem is, you may not believe me when I tell you. It has to do with your wife."

This didn't surprise the Takeda at all. "Of course it does; that's why I hired you. What, has that oaf Sagara tried to spin some sort of advance on her?" He was kidding, naturally; that Sagara was such a coward and too far gone with that wretched Megumi Takani, and Kaoru would never have the gall to cheat on him anyway.

"Hardly," the informant snorted. His face was smiling pleasantly. "This is the part where you may not believe me. Surely, you remember Kenshin Himura?"

Derekai rolled his eyes. "The one I killed? Yes, yes, of course. Don't tell me." He smirked obnoxiously. "Has she been telling Tai girlish memories of him that you managed to overhear? Or that child Yihako…or whatever?"

"Yahiko. And don't call him a child, for then what would that make me?"

"Indeed. Well?" demanded Derekai, tapping his fingers on the edge of his desk. "What then? What's got you so mischievous, and how does a dead assassin manage to worm his way into my business after six years?"

"Oh, it's very simple. Anyone can do it," said the informant, and his eyes flashed on his employer's. "If they're not dead, at least."

---

The night was warm, and Yahiko inhaled it, smelling the wondrous scents of the air, the grass he was lying on, and the girl beside him. He was propped up off the ground by his elbows, but Tsubame was sitting primly with her legs tucked beneath her and her hands folded in her lap. He smiled. He liked seeing them this way.

The same way he could see them in twenty, even thirty years from now.

Tsubame turned her head, her chocolate hair waving as she did so. She saw him looking at her and smiled, a faint blush deepening the color in her cheeks. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Just you," he replied honestly. He sat up and scooted closer to her, lifting her left hand from its place on her right one. He held it out in front of them, admiring the modest opal there. It flickered its many colors in the sun that had almost completely waned now. Tsubame's fingers curled around his, and her head nestled on top of his shoulder. "Does this make you happy?" he asked.

Tsubame looked up at him beneath her lashes, unaware just how beautiful she was to Yahiko in that moment. She couldn't tell if by "this" he meant the ring or what it represented. "You make me happy," she told him, her voice so clear with its sincerity.

_Happy_. The word stuck in Yahiko's brain and smoldered there. His thoughts turned to Kenshin, and thus, to Kaoru, and he barely noticed Tsubame taking her head from his shoulder. When would the time to be happy come for two of the most influential people in his life? He felt awkward being able to marry the person he loved when his teacher and his role model could not.

"What is it?"

His fiancee's soft voice startled him from his reverie. He instantly spread his lips into a reassuring smile. "I was just thinking of Sanosuke and Megumi," he lied, while he hated himself for it. "I really hope they don't move their wedding back another year. I don't intend to." He grinned, genuinely speaking now. "I wouldn't want to make them feel incredibly old."

"Well." Tsubame laughed. A hint of her girlish giggle remained, but both she and the man she was engaged to had matured and grown since they had met. They were no longer timid children, but responsible adults that would be married before the end of the year. The idea both surprised and excited her. She had been waiting to be Yahiko's wife for years. "I wouldn't want that, either." She settled against Yahiko's chest, relaxing as his fingers threaded lazily through her hair. The stars were beginning to materialize in the purplish-blue sky.

She also didn't want Yahiko to keep from her. Peering up, she saw his jaw had hardened again. She remained silent this time, however. If he felt he needed to tell her, Tsubame trusted him to do so. That would never change between them.

She looked up at the sky again. If she or Yahiko had looked left of them, just twenty feet away, they would have seen a black-cloaked figure en route to Derekai Takeda's office building.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

There you go! Again, so many apologies for taking so long with this chapter. Please review and let me know what you think so far.

Also, I know there's a lot of talented fan artists out there. I'd like to issue a fanart challenge to you all for this fic. Draw a scene or Derekai or older Yahiko and Tsubame, Megumi in her wedding kimono, Misao in her green dress kimono…whatever itches at your brain. I will write a one-shot (possibly longer) for whoever decides to take up the challenge.

Love,

GG


	11. What Prevails

I didn't realize it would be, but this is the last chapter! Weird, huh? Thanks to all who stuck with this, more notes are at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

Now That You've Returned – Chapter 10

By Gundam Girl

The place was dark and quiet, all except for the top floor. Electricity burned brightly there, and the intruder moved silently up the ten flights of stairs, even though it was pitch black. He had a goal in mind.

There were some people in the world who were evil. He had met many of them, had fought many of them. His sword had crossed thousands of bloody blades, but this man was different. This man had no blade and had probably never performed real combat in his life. Kanriyu hadn't, except to turn the lever of a machine gun.

He had a mind, though, even if it was a sick and twisted one. He had ambition as well, and he would want to keep what he felt was his. But he would be demoted, for sure, and everything he had stolen from others would be given back.

The intruder slipped into the office of Derekai Takeda, the man who lingered in his thoughts like a fly lingered around a person. Light his the intruder's face.

And Kenshin cursed. Derekai had left already. He walked forward and examined the large desk piled high with documents and files. It was a lot of work for a man who was really no more than a boy. Maybe he had just been too thoughtless to turn off the top floor lights. Or maybe…

A team of men rushed in, all in black from their cowl-covered heads to their slippered feet. Bandages covered the length of their arms and legs. Kunais gleamed in each of their hands.

Maybe Derekai had ordered a group of ninjas to guard his office.

---

Kaoru had been forced to hurry. By spending so much time with Kenshin, she had completely forgotten about dinner for the first time in six years. Fortunately, Tae had been able to have her pick-up ready by the time she had gotten to the main floor of the Akabeko. Ignoring the worried look on her friend's face – Tae knew just as well as she did that she would be late for getting to Derekai's – she hustled out and halfway across town.

The sun had just finished setting when she arrived at the manor and she quickly pulled the house key from her sash and stepped inside. In the kitchen, she worked to hurriedly pull down plates and take out silverware, stopping only for an instant to glance at the clock. Six-twenty. Derekai wouldn't be home for another ten minutes, and Kaoru's shoulders visible sagged with relief.

That was when she felt the hand on her shoulder. Whirling, she met Derekai's eyes; they were sharp and glinted in the light from the lamp that hung over the table. The gleam of them spoke of pain, of violence. Kaoru's throat constricted.

"You're late, Kaoru." His voice was dangerously soft. In the back of her mind, Kaoru marveled for the thousandth time about how much larger he was than her. It was difficult to remember that he was her junior by almost four years. "Why…" He slowly wound his arm about her waist, pulling her to him in the same way a desert cobra coiled around its prey, "…are you late?" He ducked his head and his lips bruised to hers. Kaoru's stomach lurched when he forced his tongue into her mouth. Derekai finally released her seconds later, only to send her sprawling to the floor with a vicious backhand.

Kaoru tasted blood. In the past, she had automatically reached for her hip, for her boken. But she was certain that there was no boken to be found, and she pressed the heels of her hands into the linoleum of the floor, fighting the pain,

"I was tipped off today," Derekai seethed, his voice carrying the same abusive undertones his father had used, "by someone you know. Someone you'd never suspect; he's been keeping tabs on you for me for quite some time. And do you want to know what he told me?"

The tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose as Derekai leaned over and whispered in Kaoru's ear. "He told me that a ghost is haunting you. Someone I killed myself."

A wretched sob tore Kaoru's throat.

"Someone," Derekai continued, "who just couldn't stay away, it seems. _Kenshin Himura_!" He delivered a swift kick to her side, ignoring her cry. "How long have you known, Kaoru?! How long, my _wife_?!"

Kaoru began to scramble away from him, but he seized her by the hair and dragged her back to him. Kaoru's shuddered, holding up her hands to shield what she could. Her voice, when it came, was quiet and pitiful-sounding. "Two days…"

---

Kenshin counted the number of ninjas and totaled fifteen. Well, he had fought ninjas before, and he knew how to evade their attacks and play the offensive against them.

His face grim as he met their eyes, cold as their weapons, he spread his feet and placed his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword. More than a few of the men flinched, and he paused. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

The ninja in front replied in a gruff voice. "You are the hitokiri, Battousai. You are known well from the Tokugawa days." He held up a steel star that could cut through bone. "And you mean to kill Mr. Takeda."

"I'm not sure what I intend to do to Takeda," Kenshin replied honestly. "But it probably won't be to give him flowers, no. And I'm not going to let you delay me further." Because of Derekai wasn't here, then he had probably gone home to Kaoru. And if Derekai knew he was alive, then Kaoru was most certainly in danger. A corner of his mouth turned up to intimidate the ninjas. "Shall we begin?" He popped the top of the sakabatou out of the sheath.

Before either Kenshin or a ninja could attack, glass shards flew about the room in result of a terrible crash in a nearby window. Two figures leapt in and rolled, moving upright to their knees. The smaller one carried daggers. The taller one held a short sword.

"Aoshi," Kenshin said in surprise. "Misao."

Misao glanced over at him and winked, but kept her gaze firmly on the black-dressed ninjas. "Well, Himura, here we are."

"We saw you enter this building from the street," Aoshi informed him. "And then we saw a couple of these guys are the roof. Needless to say, we decided to investigate."

"And be of some service," added Misao, her braided hair wagging as she nodded.

Aoshi rose to his feet and pointed his sword at the offending group. "We can take care of things here, Himura. These people are pushovers." His expression didn't change when a few of the ninjas cried out in rage. "Whatever you feel you must do now, go do it."

Kenshin stared at the much taller man and was doused with an onslaught of memories of fighting with him almost seven years ago, when he had fought for the father of the man he was about to confront. He smiled. "I trust you, Aoshi." He pushed his sword back in the sheath and turned to exit by the window his friends had less-than-silently entered through. "Take care of them for me, Miss Misao!"

"Sure, Himura!"

He dashed through the window and heard moans and cries of pan before he'd gone three feet from the place. Jumping down to the ground by balancing on various window ledges, he raced off toward the part of Tokyo where Derekai's manor was, very thankful for the visit to it the night of the festival.

_Kaoru_, he thought, _after tonight, I promise…_

He darted into a back alley and ran, his eyes taking on a light golden sheen.

_He won't hurt you again._

---

"Two days?" Derekai gripped Kaoru's hair tighter. "_Two days_, and you never mentioned it?! That forty-two hours of betrayal, my dear. And for each hour, you will be hurt." Derekai brought his face very close to hers. "In whatever way I choose."

"What are you going to do to him?!" she demanded, gasping when he yanked on her head and began to drag her across the kitchen toward the stairs. "What will you do?"

"Do?" Derekai gave a cruel chuckle as they reached the foot of the stairs. "I'll _do _whatever I want, my dear. To him, and especially to you. Right now, however, your precious Battousai is dying at the hands of fifteen specially-trained ninjas. I suspected he would come after me, and I left quite early."

Struggling to keep up with him so the pain on her head was lesser, Kaoru's feet caught on the hem of her kimono, and she climbed the stairs mostly on her knees. Though she was suffering, she could feel a familiar spark heating her blood, and a sharpness came to her tongue. "Fifteen?" She allowed herself a short scoff. "Fifteen ninjas couldn't break one of Kenshin's fingers, let alone kill him. You assigned only fifteen fighters to destroy the leading assassin of the Tokugawa?"

"That," Derekai said sternly as they arrived on the third floor of the manor. "Is _very _bold of you. Too bold, you insolent wretch." Without grace, he shoved her into a room and Kaoru found they were in the watch tower. "How interesting," toned Derekai. "This is the very room Megumi Takani tried to kill herself in to escape from my father." His face was contorted with rage. "Isn't it funny that her good friend Kaoru Kamiya is going to die to get away from that man's son?"

"You are _worse _than Kanriyu!" Kaoru shouted. "At least Kanriyu had a _reason _for being insane!"

"Oh, I've a reason." His rough, hard hands shoved her onto the pillowed window seat, his movements ordering her to stay there. Kaoru didn't have the strength to move anyway. His eyes dug into her own gaze like a knife that only wished to cause pain. "My reason is knowing that because everyone hated my father, they must also hate me. That because he is dead, I was left to grow up the son of a filthy whore who cared _nothing _for me!"

If Kaoru had not been forced to tolerate his anger and abuse for six years, she might have been sympathetic, having been brought up lonely as the daughter of a strict dojo leader. As it was, her tears were of hate rather than sadness. "If you let it effect you enough to try to kill a man who rightfully put your father in prison, and then destroy my own life the way you have, you are too weak and pathetic to deserve a better way of living."

His hand struck her across the cheek again, but this time Kaoru did not feel the pain of it. Her own anger at the fool she had never truly considered her husband was more powerful than his insulted pride.

And when Derekai pulled his pistol from his pocket and aimed it at her head, she jutted out her chin. With the moon glowing directly behind her, falling on her matted hair and battered body, she was beautiful – because the pain to her physical self could not overcome her own inner strength.

"Kill me, Derekai." Her eyes glimmered with unwavering courage. "If you do, then maybe you will realize just how terrible you really are, once my blood is on your hands."

Derkeai's weapon-holding hand shook as her words swept through him. "You would love Battousai then, a man who has been drowning in the blood of others for sixteen years, and not me, who is guiltless?"

"Guiltless of murder perhaps," Kaoru bit out, her fingers curving tightly around the edge of the window seat, "but not of treachery. You accuse me of betrayal, and for years you've taken your whores and beaten me even though I am your wife. Is that not betrayal as well?"

"Betrayal is whatever I _tell _you it is!" he roared. He grabbed her and in an instant had her pressed to the cold glass of the window. "That is my right! I will kill you," he told her, his tone a bit softer as he pressed the mouth of the pistol right to her temple. "Are you not frightened of me?"

A child, Kaoru thought. No matter how he looked, he was nothing more than a man who hadn't really been able to be a child. She was not afraid of children. "No," she replied honestly.

Derekai, on the other hand, could remember times when she had looked at him with such loathing and fear that he had felt more powerful than any man in the world. But at the same time he had realized that the terrified Kaoru Kamiya who he'd had was not the same strong, devoted woman he'd wanted when he had heard of her being with Kenshin Himura.

But it was too late for regret now. He had never really loved Kaoru. Just like Kaoru had never really loved him – or anyone else except that bastard Himura.

"Well," he said, his voice deadly quiet, "in that case, I suppose I should make it so you'll never feel anything else again, least of all fear." His finger tensed on the trigger.

Kaoru let her eyes drift shut. _Kenshin…_

What she heard didn't sound like a gunshot, and she had heard gunshots before on many occasions. What she did hear was more a metallic sound, a sound she'd heard more times than gunshots. It was steel-on-steel. A sound like a…

Her eyes burst open.

Like a sword hitting steel.

In front of her stood Kenshin, his black cloak gone and his sakabatou free from its sheath. A few feet away lay Derekai's pistol, useless on the wood floor. Derekai was clutching his now-empty right hand and glaring at the red-haired man. Kaoru couldn't see Kenshin's eyes, but by feeling how intense his presence was, she could guess that they weren't purple.

"Ah," Derekai murmured, his expression filled with both shock and rage. "So comes the famous hero to rescue the woman he loves. A timeless story, Battousai."

Battousai was indeed present; Kaoru heard the killer in Kenshin's voice. "Another part of the story," came the low tone, "is that the man the hero rescues the woman from always dies."

Derekai smirked. "To different people, it's either classic or unoriginal. What do you think?"

Kenshin surged forward. The sakabatou had been turned, and the sharp edge was pressed to Derekai's throat. Kaoru could see her lover's face now; it was pale and the teeth were clenched with golden eyes that promised revenge. "I think I should let your blood purify this tainted house. But it wouldn't do the job."

"Then that's hardly a threat, is it?" Of course, the cold steel against his neck was threat enough if Derekai's enemy's words weren't. "What a foolish objective you have, Battousai. You would kill for the first time in sixteen years for a woman?"

"For her, if necessary," Kenshin replied darkly, "I'd kill thousands." He let his gaze switch to Kaoru, and his hand tightened around the hilt of his katana as he took in her ragged appearance. His blood was hot, and his former self craved death, but even now, the rurouni inside of him struggled for supremacy. "I would ask if you are all right, Kaoru," he told her, "but I can see that you are not."

Kaoru swallowed. "Kenshin…" She didn't know what to say. She couldn't manage to plead for Kenshin not to kill Derekai, because she had hated the younger man for so long and suffered at his hands. Her darker side _wanted _his death.

But Kenshin didn't love her darker side, she knew. Kenshin wouldn't want her if she asked him to murder Derekai Takeda. Just like she preferred the rurouni to the hitokiri, Kenshin preferred the peaceful swordswoman to the hateful wife.

Conflict and tension soaked the room like fog. And then…

Derekai began to laugh. He laughed loud and long, and the two who despised him could only watch him as he did.

"Just _look _at you two! You're so pitiful!" Derekai grinned, and it seemed any shred of sanity he'd before held was lost completely now. "You can never be together as long as I'm alive and married to her, Battousai. But you couldn't be together if you were charged with my murder, either." He gasped for breath between chuckles. "In the end, the only one with power here is me!"

"Don't be too sure about that, you vicious bastard."

Derekai flew to the floor as a strong fist connected with his face. A trail of blood led to wherever his nose went, and Sanosuke grinned, punching his right fist into his left palm.

"Oh yeah," the tall man said. "I still got it."

In the doorway, Megumi turned her nose up. "What a horribly inappropriate place for a confrontation." Her eyes fell upon her friend. "Oh, Kaoru!" She hastened to the other woman and immediately began inspecting her. It was, she thought with contempt, worse even than the way Kanriyu had treated her back in the days when the older Takeda had occupied this demon-haunted mansion. Her shrewd eyes turned to Derekai on the floor. "Someone…" she waved a hand impatiently in the air, "…_do _something about him!"

"What is it you want to do, Kenshin?" asked Sanosuke, fist ready if Derekai tried to get to his feet. "Take him to Saito or…" He left the suggestion in the air.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru, and his heart fill with menace again, but he wasn't able to give an answer before a voice floated up from the stairs.

"Sure is noisy up here. You got a party or something going on, Takeda?" Shiro Yamate stopped dead in his tracks when he entered the room and saw several hostile gazes on him. He then saw his employer on the floor with a bloody nose. "Oh. Shit," he declared.

Sano's eyes lighted with fire. "Suzume's boyfriend. What the hell are you doing here?" His eyes widened a moment later when suddenly fell to the floor, motionless. Behind him stood Yahiko.

The dark teenager raised his boken in greeting. "Hey."

"Yahiko? How did you wind up here?" Megumi stared in shock at the fallen thirteen-year-old. "Don't tell me Shiro was…"

"Working for Derekai as a spy. A freaking spy!" shouted Yahiko angrily. "For six months, since he first started school with us at the dojo. Keeping tabs on Kaoru, going so far as to follow her home sometimes to make sure she didn't go anywhere else." He planted a sandaled foot firmly on the unconscious boy's back. "And then he found out about Kenshin this evening. Tsubame and I spotted him by the river and he was talking to Derekai's carriage driver about how he was getting paid for telling Takeda about the still-living Battousai." He stomped on the boy's back again for good measure. "Suzume knows nothing."

"Things just keep adding up, don't they?" Sano said dryly. "Well, that makes two jailbirds."

Kenshin's hand had slacked on his sakabatou, and his blood had cooled. Thinking of little Suzume, who he had played with six years ago, had cleared his head a bit. When she found out that her boyfriend had lied to her and that Kenshin himself was still alive would be shock enough. Kenshin slowly sheathed his katana. He didn't want to add the surprise that Kenshin had broken his vow of never killing again to the confusion.

That was when the gunshot went off, and the blood spurted warm and thick from Kenshin's shoulder. From the window seat beside Megumi, Kaoru cried out his name.

"Ha! Your mistake, Battousai!" Derekai looked up from the floor with a wide smile on his face. Sanosuke's punch, they all realized now, had landed Derekai just close enough to his pistol that he had been able to reach it when the rest had been distracted by Yahiko and Shiro. "Well, at least I don't have to give that pathetic boy his fourteen million yen."

Sanosuke lunged forward. "You wretched—" He froze when Derekai turned the pistol to Megumi, who had jumped to her feet.

"Better watch your step, Sagara," warned Derekai, "or there could be more than one life taken tonight." Slowly, he stood up. "Of course, first things first." Eyes completely deranged and glowing with it, he rushed toward Kenshin. _It's time for you to finally die,_ he thought. "BATTOUSAI!"

Derekai never made it to Kenshin. He felt himself lifted from the ground and realized that it was Kaoru who was doing it. Though rusty from little practice in six years, she was still able to do her jutsu, and suddenly Derekai was thrown over Kaoru's shoulder – straight to the window that she had been sitting in front of moments before.

The glass shattered like rain through fog. The five in the room heard Derekai's wretched, mangled scream as he dropped three stories to the ground. The scream ended abruptly, and everyone turned their eyes to stare at Kaoru, who was looking at the broken window as though it had told her what to do.

Kenshin moved first, stepping toward her. "Kaoru…"

She was silent for a moment; to her friends, she liked like a woman who had known pain and despair and abuse…but she no longer looked defeated. In fact, she looked quite victorious.

"He's gone," Kaoru whispered, awe evident in her soft voice. "And I…"

She crumpled suddenly, bent at the waist, with her face buried in her hands and great, ragged cries tore free from her throat. She shook and shuddered until she felt familiar arms around her. "He was going to kill you!" she sobbed.

"I know." Kenshin stroked her hair, ignoring his bleeding shoulder as she clutched to him for dear life. "I know. It's all right, Kaoru, everything's all right now. That it is."

Kaoru's watery eyes met his. "Is it?"

Kenshin cupped his hand against her tear-stained, beautiful face. "You'll see." With a small smile, he kissed her with a passion he'd never shown before. "I'll prove it to you."

She squeezed his hand and, very slowly, her own smile lit up the whole room. "I'll let you."

She kissed him back.

---

Ten Months Later – May 

"It's a beautiful day." Kaoru smiled at Megumi. "Don't you think so?"

"I do." With her usual sassy smirk, Megumi shifted the baby in her arms. "And so does Aiko."

"Your daughter grows more beautiful every day," said Kaoru, stroking a finger down the little girls soft skin. "It's hard to believe a whole month has gone by since her birth."

"Yes. Sanosuke loves spoiling her. He spends whole hours sometimes, mashing fish and vegetables up so they're soft enough for her to eat." Megumi laughed a little. "He's such a softie around her." She gave Kaoru a sideways glance. "I'm sure Ken will be the same way with your child, when he or she is born."

The two were sitting on the porch that surrounded Kenshin and Kaoru's home; the dojo, which neither had wanted to leave for a regular house. Sanosuke and Megumi lived in a small house just next door to Dr. Gensai's clinic, which Megumi had taken over permanently, though Gensai and his granddaughters still lived there. Kaoru remembered Suzume; she had been torn apart by news of the boy she thought had liked her had only been using her closeness to Kaoru to be Derekai's spy. But she had recovered within a month or so and was seriously dating a young man who worked in the local electric company. Her friends expected engagement announcements by the end of June.

Another wedding people were anticipating was Yahiko's and Tsubame's. The two were still seventeen, so they wouldn't be marrying until sometime next year, but everyone they knew showed their enthusiasm. Tae sometimes burst into tears in the middle of the lunch rush. Aoshi and Misao were planning to come back from Kyoto to see them get married. Right now, the two Oniwabans were enjoying life as newlyweds themselves.

Kaoru pressed a hand to her slightly rounded belly and said in response to Megumi's comment, "I'm sure Kenshin will definitely pamper our child." Just then, she felt a hand on her shoulder and smiled up into her husband's scarred face. Kenshin stroked her hair with all the gentleness in the world, and she leaned against him when he sat beside her.

Sanosuke had folded himself down by Megumi as well. "Lookin' good there, fox lady." He pressed a chaste kiss to his wife's cheek. "So do you, Aiko." He took his daughter from Megumi's arms.

Kenshin's hand covered Kaoru's over her stomach. "I've asked Sanosuke to join us for dinner with his family. Shall I go prepare it?"

"In a minute. We're watching the clouds," Kaoru told him. She smiled when he rested his head atop hers.

The four of them watched the clouds, but Kenshin and Kaoru were really only aware of each other, and the third member of their family who they had yet to see.

In the end, both of them knew, beyond death and pain and suffering, love prevailed.

And always would.

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Hey, all! Thank you so much for reading my fic. bows humbly before readers It means a lot to me that you all liked it so much to keep coming back despite the really slow updates (and I admit they were slow!) and the at-times inconsistent writing. I know I had Suzume and Ayame confused, but I hope it didn't distract you too much. One day, I may go back and fix it, but for now…well, I'm too lazy. :-P

So…everyone thought Kenshin was going to kill Derekai, and it was Kaoru, BWAHAHAHAHA! …Ahem.

Thanks once again and, if you would, please leave a final review telling me what you thought of the story overall and the ending.

Much love,  
GG


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